Historic California high school football program seeks new coach after sudden resignation

Long Beach Poly football coach Stephen Barbee announced at the team's end-of-year banquet that he's stepping down after six seasons.
Long Beach Poly football coach Stephen Barbee stands on sideline while coaching against Mission Viejo at SoFi Stadium.
Long Beach Poly football coach Stephen Barbee stands on sideline while coaching against Mission Viejo at SoFi Stadium. / Rene Morales

The high school football coaching carousel in Southern California will be worthy of a Netflix show this offseason.

Long Beach Poly's Stephen Barbee has stepped down as head coach of the Jackrabbits after six seasons, which resulted in an overall record of 57-20. Poly went 6-6 this past season.

The562.org was the first to report this news.

According to The562, Barbee made his announcement to step down at the team's end-of-year banquet Monday evening.

Barbee was the CIF Southern Section Coach of the Year in 2021 after leading Long Beach Poly to a Division 4 title. The562 also reported that the program has had just five head coaches since 1980.

Long Beach Poly, as of now, will be the most notable high school football coaching vacancy in California, especially when considering the program's rich history of winning and NFL players that've played for Poly. The Jackrabbits have won 20 CIF championships.

Other notable coaching vacancies include Rancho Cucamonga, Santa Margarita, Harvard-Westlake, Heritage Christian, Alemany, West Ranch, Etiwanda and Long Beach Jordan.

Bishop Amat, another historic program in SoCal, was open but the school recently hired former Amat standout Kory Minor


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Tarek Fattal, SBLive Sports
TAREK FATTAL

Tarek Fattal has been covering high school sports since 2015 in Southern California and primarily in Los Angeles, covering notable athletes such as Bronny James, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Alyssa Thompson. He was with the LA Daily News for eight years, which included being the beat reporter for the UCLA men's basketball team. Tarek can be seen on TV regularly on CBS/KCAL as a sports analyst with Jim Hill.