Bishop O’Dowd Coach Napoleon Kaufman walked away from a lot of money when he retired from the Oakland Raiders in 2000 to become a Christian minister, but football was still in his blood.

After founding The Well Christian Community Church in Livermore in 2003 where he currently serves as the senior pastor, Kaufman came back to coach youth football in the Pleasanton Youth Football League for a few years until he got another call right after the 2013 season.

His oldest son Napoleon Jr. was attending O’Dowd at the time (and has since graduated) and the school was looking for a new football coach.

“What happened was my oldest son was at the school and they knew me,” Kaufman said. “The job was open and Athletic Director Mike Boler reached out to me and asked me if I was interested in interviewing for the job.”

The term “slam dunk” is a basketball term but when Kaufman interviewed for the Dragons head coaching position it’s hard to believe it was anything but a LeBron James jam.

Now, after three seasons at the Dragons helm, and with a third CIF North Coast Section championship and first in 18 years, plus a first-ever CIF Bowl Game title as the 2016 5-AA winner, Kaufman has been named the Prep2Prep Preppy winner as the Northern California Male Team Coach of the Year.

Kaufman’s Dragons finished 15-1 and 5-0 in the West Alameda County – Foothill League in a season that culminated in 43-24 victory on the road at Valley View-Moreno Valley where O’Dowd secured the Bowl Game championship.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. With all the coaches out there,” was Kaufman’s response when told he was being honored. “I can’t believe this but I appreciate it very much.”

The first of two burning questions that had to be asked is why did Kaufman walk away from football and the potential earnings to become a minister even though at the time he was the Raiders’ team chaplain, a position he still holds.

“Of course I walked away from a lot of money,” Kaufman answered. “It was me feeling I was called by God to the ministry of preaching the word while also spending more time with my family. It’s as simple as that.”

Then why take on a full time job as a high school football coach with his family and ministry taking up so much time?

“Because it’s an opportunity for me to pour into the lives of young men, and for me it’s just an extension of my ministry. I get to reach out and be a blessing to these young men.”

The journey

Despite winning three NCS titles O’Dowd has always been known as a basketball school. In the 18 years since the last NCS football title there have been some good teams but Kaufman seems to have brought a different somewhat spiritual approach and the kids have bought on.

It didn’t happen overnight. He inherited a team that was below .500 and missed the playoffs the previous season. The first year his team was 5-6 but 3-2 in league. Two years ago they made the playoffs and won a first round game before losing 25-13 to eventual D3 winner and CIF NorCal Division III-AA Bowl game champion Campolindo. From that game on the handwriting was on the wall.

O’Dowd opened last season with three wins by a combined score of 162-14 before getting a wakeup call in a 43-13 home loss to eventual NCS Open Division runner up and CIF NorCal 1-AA runner up Freedom.

“We were in the game and stayed close and then imploded with seven minutes to go,” Kaufman remarked.

O’Dowd had the ball in Freedom territory twice down 10 points with less than nine minutes to go and instead of cashing in they gave up the final 20 points due to miscues.

“What came out of that game was if you’re going to be successful against a very good team you have to be disciplined,” Kaufman said.

“I ripped up the score sheet and the stats and put them in a clear jar so the kids could see it, and I wrote the score on the outside of the jar,” Kaufman continued. “From then on I used it as a motivational tool and we didn’t lose a game the rest of the season.”

Run to the title

The Dragons may have closed out the season with 12 straight wins en route to the Bowl Game title, but they had to pull out some close games.

O’Dowd handled Marin Catholic pretty easily in a 27-7 NCS D3 title-game victory, but the previous week they needed a 42-yard field goal by senior Trey Miller to squeeze out a 37-34 victory against Rancho Cotate.

In their CIF NorCal 5-AA win against Capital Christian the Dragons led 17-7 at the half and 24-14 into the fourth quarter before holding on for a 24-21 victory.

The team

The Dragons had a lot of stars, and we can’t mention them all, but Kaufman pointed to 6-3, 295-pound senior two-way lineman Avery Bilensky as the team leader. He played center and guard and had 58 tackles and four sacks on defense.

“He was our leader and the guy that made the engine run as a team,” Kaufman said. “Off the field he was the guy that got everything in line.”

Some doubted his quarterback Joe Deluca but the 6-1, 190-pound senior proved himself. He passed for 2,153 yards and 29 touchdowns with only five interceptions. He also ran for two scores.

“I told you we had a quarterback. Over 30 TDs is pretty good,” Kaufman remarked.

Defensive end Jordan Jackson, who is going to Holy Cross, had 52 tackles and 10 sacks with a blocked field goal.

Two returning players had a huge role. Prep2Prep 5-11, 190-pound Sophomore of the year Austin Jones rushed for 1,967 yards and 27 touchdowns, and caught 22 passes for 234 yards and two more scores. He had a season-high 240 yards against Capital Christian and followed that up with his second best effort of 196 yards and three TDs in the Bowl Game victory against Valley View.

Oregon-committed 6-2, 185-pound incoming senior Jevon Holland only had 12 catches but eight went for touchdowns, and he had 381 yards for a whopping 31.8 yards per catch. He also had 35 tackles, three interceptions and three forced fumbles as a defensive back, and scored five times with 578 yards on punt returns.

Miller was a huge hero against Rancho Cotate and made a total of 12 field goals last season, including a 46-yarder. He also made 82-of-86 extra points and had 60 touchbacks on kickoffs.

Family

Kaufman’s wife of almost 21-years, Nicole, is also a pastor. Besides his son Napoleon Jr. he has two sons still at O’Dowd, incoming senior and Dragons wide receiver Nathanael and Nehemiah, who is not a football player. The baby of the family is incoming eighth-grader Natalia.

His own accomplishments

Part of the reason kids are gravitating to O’Dowd is Kaufman. First off, physically he looks like he could suit up right now or get in the running blocks.

The pride of Lompoc gained notoriety as a 5-9, 170-pound running back with 4.3 speed that had his high school career culminate in 1990 with his being named the Cal-Hi Sports Mr. Football State Player of the Year and a USA Today First Team All-American.

Kaufman was also an exceptional track athlete. As a junior he was the CIF state champion in both the 100 (10.57) and 200 meters (21.15). He also was an accomplished long jumper with a personal best of over 24 feet.

From Lompoc he went on to Washington and is the Huskies all-time leading rusher (4,106 yards), plus he holds several other rushing records that got him elected to the University of Washington Hall of Fame.

With Oakland his 227 yards in leading the Raiders to an upset of the undefeated and eventual 1997 Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos still stands as the franchise mark for rushing yards in a single game.

“The kids really are gravitating towards the football program,” Kaufman said. “the thing that is great is I’m really good friends with all the other coaches, Lou Richie (basketball) and Chris Kyriacou (baseball). We’re all working together to help these kids.”

We will conclude our summer NCS D3 preview with a look next week at this year’s O’Dowd team which may be even better than last year, but for now it’s time for the spotlight to shine on Napoleon Kaufman, the Preppy winner as the Northern California Male Team Coach of the Year.