Leuzinger High Hires Jessee as Football Coach

Tom Jessee, a former head football coach at St. Monica High and an assistant the past six seasons at Katella High in Anaheim, has been named football coach at Leuzinger.

Jessee, 50, replaces Steve Carnes, who resigned in November after guiding Leuzinger to a 56-22-6 record, four league titles, seven playoff appearances and a CIF-Southern Section conference title from 1984-90.

“Hopefully I can keep up what Steve has done,” Jessee said. “I want to keep Leuzinger right up there. It means a little bit more to me than just a job.”

Jessee, who begins teaching physical education Monday at Leuzinger, grew up in Hawthorne and attended Leuzinger as a freshman before moving to Montana, where he graduated from high school. He later returned to the area and helped establish the Junior All-American youth football programs in Hawthorne and Inglewood in the late 1960s.

A professional motorcycle racer from 1962-69, Jessee became the offensive line coach at Loyola University in 1969, the year the Lions won the NAIA national championship. He remained at Loyola for two more seasons before leaving to coach the sophomore football team at Leuzinger in 1972 and ’73.

“I’m glad to be back,” he said. “(Leuzinger) is where I found out about football. Really, as I look around, it’s still the same. The attitude is the same.

“Im really impressed with the players here. It looks like we have 25 juniors coming back. That’s fantastic.”

Jessee’s only previous head coaching experience came during two stints at St. Monica. He coached the Mariners from 1975-76 and again from 1980-82, guiding them to three playoff appearances and a league title (Santa Fe in 1981) in those five seasons.

In between, he as an assistant for three seasons under Jim Brownfield at Muir High in Pasadena.

“We’re pretty pleased with him,” said Carnes, Leuzinger’s athletic director. “He has a background in the area. I think he’ll do a good job.”

Jessee said he plans to install the Delaware wing-T offense, which is characterized by misdirection running plays and play-action passes.

“I want to run the wing-T, but I want to be flexible enough that we could develop the run-and-shoot,” he said.