Jahvid Best enters the coaching ranks in the Bay Area
He’s back
The former Bay Area star recruit. The former Cal record setting running back. The former first round NFL pick. The former Olympic sprinter.
He has returned to the football world and in Berkeley.
Jahvid Best has been named the Head Coach of…. the Saint Mary’s - Berkeley Panthers.
The former star running back and track star for Cal, came back to try his hand at coaching with the Bears in 2014. He was in the process of finishing his degree and joined the team as a student-assistant. Afterwards he spent some time at his former HS, Salesian in Richmond, CA coaching before taking this head coaching job. The story above goes into greater detail about how his wife, who is the women’s soccer coach for the Panthers, got his name into the mix for the Head Coaching job.
“I’ll be drawing from all my coaching experience and all my playing experience,” Best said. “I want to pass down the knowledge I have. I feel what made me great as an athlete was my work ethic. … What I want to do with my program is teach the kids how to put the work in and how to be dedicated to the work. I think I’ll be able to pass that on through the whole program, from top to bottom. … I really just want to build my program from the ground up. I’m not too focused on where my coaching career will do. It’s not even about me; it’s just about getting these kids to achieve their goals and their dreams.”
Congratulations to Jahvid! We hope he succeeds as a Head Coach and maybe becomes a Cal coach in the future!
Some of the notable St. Mary's alum who also starred for Cal and beyond - Lorenzo Alexander in football and Marcus Semien in baseball.
I had to look up their Wikipedia page to see if there were any other notable guys that I have missed. Actor Ed Quinn also went there and then played rugby at Cal. Director Ryan Coogler of Black Panther and Creed fame was another graduate and played college football at SMC (but that program was cut) and Sac State (and even against Cal).
When your primary motivation is to help your kids develop habits which will make their lives better, you can't fail. I applaud Jahvid for what he is doing and I have no doubt the byproduct of his efforts will be a program that wins a lot of games as well.