Long Beach Poly football has a new head coach. Lakewood head man Justin Utupo confirmed he has accepted the position as the new head coach of the Jackrabbits. He makes history as the first Polynesian head coach in Long Beach Poly football history–a significant achievement with a program that has historically been tied to excellent Polynesian players since the 1960s.
Now that Long Beach Poly has filled the spot vacated by Stephen Barbee, it leaves Lakewood, Wilson, Jordan and Cabrillo without head coaches.
Utupo was an All-CIF defensive end at Lakewood when the Lancers made back-to-back CIF semifinals, and then he went to Notre Dame where he played 36 games over three years. In 2017 at the age of 24, Utupo came back to Long Beach to take over a struggling MIllikan football program. He took a 1-9 team and turned it around instantly, into a 17-6 performer over two seasons, with a 10-2 Moore League record and a pair of playoff wins.
Utupo returned to Lakewood in 2021 where he established stability for a struggling program. The Lancers went 23-24 overall and 15-9 in league under Utupo over the last four years. Lakewood made a historic run to a CIF championship game appearance in 2022.
Since Thadd MacNeal’s record-setting run from 2006 through 2010 that Utupo was a big part of as a player, the Lancers have been coached by Vince Lobendahn, Kenric Jameison, Jimmy Nolan, Mike Christensen, Scott Meyer and Utupo.
Since 1980 Polly has only had five coaches, all but one of whom has won a CIF-SS title.
