SBVC Hires New Football Coach

SAN BERNARDINO >> San Bernardino Valley College football team has a new head coach, Jason Vandiver, joining the Wolverines after leading one of the highest scoring offenses in the California Community College Athletic Association last year as an assistant at Los Angeles Valley College. Prior to his appointment as Offensive Coordinator at LAVC, Vandiver served as the Run Game Coordinator and Offensive Line Coach at Fullerton College. Although he is coming from assistant coaching positions in the San Fernando Valley and Orange County, Vandiver said he has always known there is talent in the Inland Empire. He plans on compiling a team of mostly local talent with the exception of a few out of area men and wants to give all his players opportunities to achieve their goals. Based on early assessments of his team, Vandiver said he expects the football team to be a good, competitive team that is physical, tough and fundamentally sound in order to prepare them to go on to the next level. Vandiver is a Southern California native, who began his college career by playing with Fullerton College in 2002. During his playing career with the Hornets, he was a two-time All-Orange Empire Conference selection, a two-time All-State selection and a two-time All-American Tight End. The current SBVC Defensive Coordinator, Kenneth Lawler, was recruiting Vandiver out of high school to play LB when he was a coach at Boise State University in Idaho. Vandiver said it is ironic they now coach together and said he is lucky to work with a coach like Lawler. Vandiver said it makes his job easier as a head coach when his defensive staff is experienced and skilled enough to handle their side of the ball on their own. After spending three years at Fullerton College, Vandiver transferred to Oregon State University where he went on to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. During his senior season at OSU, Vandiver was invited to play in the 2007 Cornerstone BankCard Hula Bowl in Hawaii. After graduating from Oregon State, Vandiver came back to be an assistant coach at his alma mater, Fullerton College. While he was with the Hornets, the team racked up six consecutive conference championships as well as an appearance in the CCCAA state championship game in 2013. Vandiver completed his master’s degree in physical education from Azusa Pacific University. SBVC will have many gaps to fill after the departure of many starters from last season, but Vandiver said he is optimistic. “It is always difficult to fill the shoes of so much production, but we are really used to it at this level," Vandiver said. "We only have these guys for a season or two so we are always trying to develop guys and transition them into hopefully achieving the same type of production." The SBVC football team opens their season Sept. 3 at Mt. San Antonio, with other key games being the home opener on Sept. 17 against Citrus and the 90th anniversary homecoming game on Nov. 12 against Mt. San Jacinto. The complete SBVC football schedule can be found on the SBVC Athletics website.