PETALUMA, CAS – After a one year hiatus during which time he solidified himself as the top college football scout in Northern California and one of the most respected scouts in California and the West Coast, Trent Herzog is back home in Petaluma as the new football coach of St. Vincent de Paul after the retirement of legendary coach Gary Galloway opened up the position.
The announcement was made in a February 17 press release from new principal Patrick Daly who will work closely with Herzog on all levels of the football program at the high school.
“We had 14 applicants but in the end after the committee that was made up of parents, faculty, administrators and alumni, made its decision, Trent came out on top, and I couldn’t be more pleased to have him and his ties to the Petaluma community,” said Daly, who is no stranger to the Northern California Catholic school scene after having served as the athletic director at Marin Catholic, principal at St. Bernard’s, and principal at Riordan.
Herzog replaces Galloway who served the school and the St. Vincent’s community for 34-years. Galloway guided the varsity football team to 12 league championships and four North Coast Section titles while also earning a place in the Cal-Hi Sports Record Book with 214 career victories.
The 42-year old Herzog is a lifelong resident of Petaluma and an alumnus of Casa Grande and Santa Rosa Junior College. He coached at Casa Grande for 21 years, serving as the head coach from 2009-2016 during which time his teams won three league championships and qualified for the playoffs every year. During his years at Casa Grande 28 of his players went on to play at the collegiate level with 12 earning full Division I scholarships, including Elijah Qualls of Super Bowl champion Philadelphia who played college football at Washington.
Herzog was recognized as both the Sonoma County Coach of the Year and North Bay League Coach of the Year, the Redwood Empire Coach of the year and the 2013 Maxpreps Northern California Coach of the Year when his team went 13-1 and won the North Bay League, and then made it all the way to the North Coast Section title game before bowing out to Miramonte.
But why, after a less than pleasant departure from Casa Grande, come back to high school coaching and a small school with less than 300 students, particularly with the success he was having rising up in the ranks as a college scout?
Maybe it’s because he still dreams of developing another Qualls, who had a rough start as a youth, or possibly a Kahlil Keyes, who earned a full academic scholarship to Yale, played football for the Ivy League school, and now works for Major League Baseball.
“Coach Herzog was one of the major factors in developing me into someone mature enough both on and off the field to be able to thrive in college, and then become an NFL player with the potential I have today,” Qualls said in a text message. “Off the field he helped me realize that I needed to change, and change myself into someone who better represented the man I am instead of the environment I’m from.”
Mixing the two and making it work
“I’m excited to be back in the community I love and to be working with Pat Daly. He’s the real deal,” Herzog said.
Daly, who brings a boost of needed new energy to St. Vincent de Paul, was a catalyst in building up to the recent success of St. Bernard’s, and he had Riordan going as well, turning it around in things other than football at both schools.
Then another former local legendary North Bay football coach, Larry Gondola, who won his share at Marin Catholic and College of Marin, put the blitz on Herzog.
“Gondola did a sales job,” said a chuckling Herzog, who will have Gondola as a consultant and helping with the offense.
Besides Gondola around 20 people in the community that knew of the Mustangs coaching vacancy reached out to Herzog, his family and friends encouraged him, and coaches he saw at the American Football Coaches Association conference in Charlotte, North Carolina also encouraged him to get back into coaching and try to make it work.
But still, making it work meant integrating a varsity head coaching job with his job as National Preps Western Region Scout, Northern California, Nevada, Oregon & Washington, with responsibility for evaluating prospects for 220 colleges.
Most of his travel is during January, February and March, and although all told Herzog is on the road around six weeks a year, a lot of it is right now and in increments of 1-2 days. After discussing it with his boss at National Preps the two agreed to try to make it work.
Putting the pieces together
Now that Herzog has taken the job the real work begins assembling all the parts that go into a football program.
Of the 14 total coaches he needs, eight varsity and six JV, he has 11 committed with 75-pecent of the staff being with him or having played for him at Casa Grande. Besides Gondola as a consultant Herzog has also reached out to former Petaluma Coach Steve Ellison for help. Ellison is in the Cal-Hi Sports Record Book for his 218 career coaching victories.
Herzog inherits a team that was poised to go to 8-man football until Daly arrived on the scene.
“I was adamant not to go to 8-man football,” Daly remarked. “Coming from St. Bernard’s where we had 17 guys playing 11-man football I said if we can do it there we can do it here.”
Because of the commitment to 11-man football the Mustangs have exited the North Central League I and will be an independent for the next two years before joining the North Central League II for the 2020 season.
Herzog has eight games scheduled so far for this coming season and needs two more, with weeks five, nine and 10 open with one of them needed as a bye. He’s hoping to find some small schools that need a game.
Bright future
With the hiring of a new principal and a new football coach St. Vincent de Paul went from considering going to 8-man football to trying to build a small school powerhouse.
Doing it starts from the ground up. Because his travel is in the winter and spring, Herzog will be able to run his own summer camps on the St. Vincent’s campus and that is a big part of building a program. Camps will be scheduled for football, speed training and weight training. The offerings will include NFL players who have already committed to participate. Herzog hopes to be able to accommodate up to 150 local student-athletes 8-14 in age.
“I’m looking straight ahead and I’m excited for the opportunity,” Herzog remarked. “Over the next two to three years we’re going to get this thing rolling.”
Getting this thing rolling is more than on the football field but in the classroom as well.
“We want our players to have a great high school experience, both on the field and in the classroom so they’re prepared for life beyond high school,” Herzog said.
“Parents can expect a family atmosphere,” Herzog continued. “They will be able to have a direct and personal relationship with me. The entire staff will deliver a genuine commitment to their student-athlete. There will be an open door policy for our student-athletes, their parents and our alumni. We are going to build this program together.”
Sounds like some lofty goals, and St. Vincent’s is still a small and not in anywhere near the same breath as Marin Catholic to the south and Cardinal Newman to the north, but with Herzog and Daly teamed up together with a little help from some sharp old coaches and a proud St. Vincent de Paul community, who knows? Anything is possible.
