College football’s all-time winningest player now coaching high school football in Tacoma
Last year, Hershel Dennis had to get used to something he’d hardly ever experienced in his life: losing.
In his first year as the head coach of the Life Christian Academy high school football team in Tacoma in 2022, the Eagles didn’t win a game, going 0-7. That’s nearly as many losses as Dennis had in his entire collegiate career.
Dennis was part of Pete Carroll’s national championship USC teams in the early 2000s and left as college football’s all-time winningest athlete, with a 70-8 record. Before that, he was an All-American running back at Long Beach Polytechnic High School, amassing 3,846 yards and 56 touchdowns in his junior and senior seasons.
So yes, losing was uncharted territory.
“It definitely was a learning curve and a learning experience,” Dennis said after a Life Christian practice on Tuesday. “I knew how tough it was gonna be.”
Dennis grew up in Long Beach and despite receiving offers from big-time programs across the country, never had plans to leave to the west coast.
“I’m a big Pac-10 guy,” he said. “I was a big fan of Washington, USC. I just loved the Pac-10, loved west coast ball.”
Dennis narrowed his list down to Oregon, UW, UCLA and USC. He was close to committing to Oregon, but his mom wanted him to stay closer to home. So he went with USC, which felt right.
“USC was one of those places I was super comfortable,” Dennis said. “I’m from the hood. So with USC, it’s right there in the hood. When I was taking trips to other schools, the other schools were a little too nice for me at the time.
“UCLA was way too nice,” Dennis said, laughing. “Beautiful campus, but when I visited USC, the demographic and the area was just kind of my vibe.”
He joined a stacked roster and running back room, with plays like Heisman trophy winner Reggie Bush. He was part of USC’s national title teams in 2003 and 2004.
“That environment, football wise, the most competitive environment I’ve ever been in,” Dennis said.
His best season came in 2003, his sophomore season, when he rushed for 661 yards and four touchdowns. But multiple knee injuries derailed his career in his later college seasons.
“It was super, super frustrating at the time, but being so young, I didn’t have the tools or the information on how to handle it,” he said. “From my mental side, it was tough to deal with because I never had any family members or older mentors that went through something similar that could kind of help guide me through that time.
“I was just out there as a 19, 20-year-old kid dealing with these life situations that I wasn’t prepared for and just kind of masking it and pushing it down and not really dealing with it.”
He wasn’t drafted into the NFL, which was crushing.
“That was even tougher,” Dennis said. “That was the only plan. It was my identity at the time.”
LIFE AFTER FOOTBALL
Dennis bounced around, playing some arena football in South Dakota for a year, before hanging it up in 2012. He got into coaching in California for a few years. His cousin DeQuin Evans, who played briefly in the NFL, called him and asked him to come up to Tacoma and help with his sports training program, Gridiron Sports Performance.
In December 2021, he packed his car and drove to Washington. Looking for a Christian school for his kids, Dennis toured Life Christian and immediately was hooked.
“I just fell in love with it,” he said. “Just all their morals and principles is aligned with everything I’m strengthening and working on right now.”
He wasn’t planning on coaching, but the school had a vacancy for its head coach. So he prayed and applied. His first season, the roster was mostly freshmen, many of whom had never played football before. Week after week, the losses piled up. But Dennis felt he and the team were moving in the right direction.
“What it taught me was really how to coach,” he said. “When you’re coaching kids who really don’t understand the culture of football and learning the basics and fundamentals of the game, it takes you back to the basics and fundamentals of coaching.
“I know how to coach running backs, but learning how to inspire, keep kids motivated to do stuff they’re really not familiar with, they’re getting their butts whooped every week. It got me good at inspiring them and finding good out of losses and kids being frustrated with not understanding.”
TURNING THINGS AROUND
Life Christian is 5-1 this season, including blowout wins in the past three weeks. Sophomore quarterback Jabez Boyd (1,424 passing yards, 16 TD; 601 rushing yards, 9 TD) has been one of the area’s most dangerous dual-threat quarterbacks.
“We were very motivated (this season),” Boyd said. “Each and every one of us, we had to come back and get our revenge on all the teams. … Our energy, our mindset is different. We have a winning mindset. Our guys work super hard during practice. We translate the practice into the game.”
Getting to play for someone with Dennis’ background? That’s a cherry on top.
“I really look up to him,” Boyd said. “It’s just a great experience for me. He played with Reggie Bush and all the great guys. I’m listening to everything he says.”
Occasionally, Dennis will play some running back on drills. Boyd thinks he still has it.
“I see a great coach,” he said. “Most coaches don’t do that.
“He’s still young, kinda,” Boyd said, laughing.
Life Christian faces 1A Nisqually League favorite Cascade Christian on the road on Saturday.
“It’s very exciting,” Boyd said. I’ve been waiting to play them all season. We’ve gotta bring the energy in practice. … We’ve gotta lock in.”
This story was originally published October 13, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
