Watch the exclusive interview with Coach Vandiver HERE
SBVC Football has a new head coach, Jason Vandiver, joining the Wolverines after leading one of the highest scoring offenses in the CCCAA last year as an assistant at Los Angeles Valley College.
Prior to his appointment as Offensive Coordinator at LAVC, Vandiver served as the Run Game Coordinator and Offensive Line Coach at Fullerton College.
Although he is coming from assistant coaching positions in the San Fernando Valley and Orange County, Coach Vandiver has always known there is talent in the Inland Empire. He plans on compiling a team of mostly local talent with the exception of a few out of area guys and wants to give all his players opportunities to achieve their goals. Based on early assessments of his team, Vandiver expects SBVC Football to be, "A good, competitive team that is very physical, very tough, and fundamentally sound in order to prepare them to go on to the next level".
Vandiver is a Southern California native, who began his college playing career with Fullerton College in 2002. During his playing career with the Hornets, he was a two time All-Orange Empire Conference selection, a two time All-State selection, and a two time All-American Tight End. Vandiver also received his Associate's degree in Liberal Arts.
An interesting fact is that current SBVC Defensive Coordinator Kenneth Lawler was recruiting Vandiver out of high school to play LB when he was a coach at Boise St. Vandiver says that it is ironic they now coach together and that he is lucky to work with a coach such as Lawler. Coach Vandiver feels that it makes his job easier as a head coach when his defensive staff is experienced and skilled enough to handle their side of the ball on their own.
After spending three years at Fullerton College, Vandiver transferred to Oregon State University where he went on to graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Sociology. In his senior season at OSU, Vandiver was invited to play in the 2007 Cornerstone BankCard Hula Bowl in Hawaii.
After graduating from Oregon State, Vandiver came back to be an assistant coach at his alma mater, Fullerton College. While he was with the Hornets, the team racked up six consecutive conference championships as well as an appearance in the CCCAA state championship game in 2013. Vandiver completed his Master's Degree in Physical Education from Azusa Pacific University.
SBVC will have many gaps to fill after the departure of so many starters from last season, but Vandiver is very optimistic. He states, "It is always difficult to fill the shoes of so much production, but we are really used to it at this level. We only have these guys for a season or two so we are always trying to develop guys and transition them into hopefully achieving the same type of production".
The SBVC Football team opens their season September 3rd at Mt. San Antonio, with other key games being the home opener on September 17th against Citrus and the 90th anniversary Homecoming game on November 12 against Mt. San Jacinto. The complete SBVC Football schedule can be found on the SBVC Athletics website.
Written by Chase LuQue
Information, Photos & Story provided by SBVC Sports Information