Sam Young will coach defense again at Modesto Junior College

It was thought Sam Young, the Modesto Junior College head coach from 2001 through ’14 and a member of the Pirates’ staff since 1991, ended his long run with his retirement a year ago.

Not so.

In a fascinating back-to-the-future moment for the Pirates, Young will serve as the defensive coordinator – his first job at MJC 25 years ago – under second-year head coach Rusty Stivers. Modesto once again will rely on the man who has led the Pirates to more wins than any other coach in school history.

“A need came up, and with my past experience, it made sense,” said Young, who coached MJC’s outside linebackers in 2015. “It’s very natural for me.”

Young will replace Drew Brown, a member of the MJC staff for the last 15 years, who will coach defensive backs for Tony Caviglia at Valley Conference rival Fresno City.

Stivers, who again will call the plays on offense, is more than happy the Pirates again will lean hard on the experience of Young. MJC opens the 2016 season at home against perennial power College of San Mateo on Sept. 3.

“He’s been a head coach, an offensive coordinator, a defensive coordinator and a line coach – a lot to tap into,” Stivers said. “Sam has coached at the two-year and four-year collegiate level. We’re lucky to have him.”

Young arrived at MJC with eventual head coach Steve Da Prato from UC Davis 25 years ago. There, Young coached for Chris Petersen (now the head coach at Washington) and served alongside current TCU coach Gary Patterson.

No dramatic changes are planned by Young, but he promises a few tweaks.

“We’ll add a little diversity to the front seven,” he said. “Simple changes that might seem complicated to our opponents.”

The Pirates, 5-6 last year after a loss at Santa Rosa in the North State Bowl, will take the field with a freshman-dominated roster.

Stivers was named the head coach only three months before the 2015 kickoff. With that, his recruiting plans didn’t fully accelerate until this year.

“We’re going to be very inexperienced. This is our first real recruiting class,” Stivers said. “We’re hoping to have better depth to help us at the end of the season.”

Another plus might be a slightly relaxed schedule. Modesto’s schedule has been ranked among Northern California’s toughest over the last four years.

Powerhouses City College of San Francisco and Diablo Valley will be replaced by Contra Costa and Siskiyous. It’s the result of biennial schedule changes, based on performance and other factors, dictated by the NorCal coaches.

Contra Costa, the four-time reigning Pacific 7 champion, has been promoted to Tier 1. Siskiyous, the northern-most state community college, will demand a difficult trip and an afternoon kickoff for MJC at Weed on Oct. 1.

The adjustment also will force an MJC trip to Stockton for the second straight year against archrival San Joaquin Delta on Nov. 12. To balance the Pirates’ schedule, Sequoias will repeat last year’s bus ride to Modesto on Oct. 15.

“We have no say in who we play nonleague,” Stivers said. “I think it all evens out in the end.”

Preseason practice officially begins on Aug. 11, and the annual Blue and White scrimmage will be held on Aug. 20.

The Pirates also will scrimmage at Merced on Aug. 25, marking the first time MJC has met another school in a scrimmage since the state barred scrimmages in a cost-cutting move several years ago. The ban was lifted this year.

The second annual MJC Kickoff Dinner is scheduled for Aug. 27 at the MJC West campus.

This story was originally published June 25, 2016 at 5:33 PM with the headline "Sam Young will coach defense again at Modesto Junior College."