He's 20. He's a high school head baseball coach. And he's doing well.

SAN JOSE - Brenden White's passion for baseball runs deep. He wanted to play but injuries held him back, in high school in Southern California and at a small college in upstate New York.

So he had another idea.

Why not coach? Yes, he was only 19 when he sent applications to high schools across the country but, to him, it was worth a shot.

Lynbrook bit.

White was hired to coach the San Jose school's baseball team this spring, even though he was just a little older than the players he'd lead.

"I’m certainly not like any coach that they’ve ever had before," said White, who turned 20 in April.

The new coach grew a beard to add a few years to his age, but that only camouflaged the truth.

The guy calling the shots in the dugout could be an older brother to the players on the field, not an authoritative figure sharing life lessons.

But that hasn't been a problem.

"He understands how we think," freshman pitcher Logan Chao said. "And he also really pushes us and helps us to play better."

Lynbrook has won nine games, including five in league play, for the first time in four years and has an outside shot to make the Central Coast Section playoffs this month.

When the Vikings beat Saratoga on Thursday, White sounded like any other high school coach. He positioned himself in the third-base coaching box when his team was on offense, telling his hitters things like "way to stay back on the breaker" and "great piece of hitting."

Saratoga coach Ricky Ramirez met White for the first time when the teams played in late March.

"He had a beard, so I thought he was a little older," Ramirez said. "But now that I finally heard how old he is, and seeing him, it’s kind of crazy. Like, ‘Oh wow, he does look like he’s a youngin.' So that’s pretty cool."

Some of the Lynbrook dads were also caught off guard by White's age.

Kenny Chao, whose sons Logan and Cameron are on the team, remembers one of the dads asking if they should take the new coach out for a beer.

"Are you sure you can?" Chao responded in an amused tone.

White grew up in Orange County and graduated from Corona del Mar High School in 2024. Shoulder injuries and a talented roster kept him off the varsity team in high school – he played two JV seasons – but didn't derail his baseball dreams.

After finishing at Corona del Mar, White took a gap year. He coached youth baseball, played at the club level and even spent a month in the Dominican Republic training at an academy, taking advantage of an opportunity presented to him through a friend.

Hoping to keep his playing days alive after seeing his fastball reach 85 mph, White moved on to Mount Saint Mary's College in Newburgh, New York. But shoulder issues cropped up again, and he turned to Plan B.

"Definitely went there feeling good about it," White said. "Planned on playing all four years, but it just wasn’t in the cards, I suppose."

So White reshuffled the deck and pursued coaching.

"I’d already coached for two years," White said, referring to youth baseball. "So I sent out some job applications."

Across the country from Mount Saint Mary's, Lynbrook was looking for someone to take over from Mike Ryan, who had been with the program for eight years, including four as varsity head coach.

White's passion and knowledge of the sport made him stand out during his interview with Lynbrook administrators.

His age was not a factor.

White inherited a bare-bones program, one that doesn't have assistant varsity coaches and hasn’t had a winning season since 2018. The JV coach helps out, but White often goes it alone.

"So far, he’s doing well," Lynbrook athletic director Jennifer Griffin said. "There’s definitely been growing pains, and the kids were used to their old coach for a long time. And we’re lacking in extra help at the moment, like extra coaches. So the fact that they are being successful with not a full strength of a coaching crew, it’s pretty impressive."

During a whirlwind winter, White was offered the Lynbrook job, decided to take it and then flew to New York from Orange County to get his belongings.

He returned to California and moved into a South Bay apartment with the help of his mother, finding a spot located between Lynbrook and San Jose City College, where he is studying criminology – though he might switch to sports management.

He is using money his parents set aside for college and a $5,600 coaching stipend to pay for his expenses.

It's all in pursuit of his coaching dream, which he hopes one day will lead him to run a Division I college program.

Not exactly his original pursuit, but it keeps him in the sport he loves.

"This coaching job came as a surprise, because it kind of came out of nowhere," said Mark White, Brenden's father. "But he had been playing baseball his whole life, right? He had his ups and downs as a youngster and through high school, but one of the things he started doing was coaching kids that were about a year younger than him, Little League kids.

"Even though he was playing baseball concurrently, I could see just as much excitement that he had in coaching the kids."

And that enthusiasm can now be found on baseball fields in Silicon Valley as White's passion continues to be fulfilled – somehow, someway.

"I think every disadvantage has its advantage, and I’m able to see the game a different way than people who have been in it for a long time," White said. "I’m able to relate to them differently, and I think that has made a big difference."

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This story was originally published May 1, 2026 at 12:15 PM.