The Kid Gets a Chance: Isaiah Veal Takes Over San Marcos Football at Age 26

As the San Marcos Royals varsity team practices football on a steamy August evening, you look around the field, trying to spot the head coach. You know, the older dude with a clipboard or a sheet of plays, whistle around the neck, probably looking like the least athletic guy out there. Traditional coach stuff, ya know?

And then the Royals head coach makes himself known, ball cap on backward, Pulp Fiction T-shirt on, sprinting ahead of his team, shouting “Let’s go! Let’s see some energy!” and seeming to dare his players to keep up as the hip-hop music he has deejayed via his phone echoes off the stands. 

At 26, Isaiah Veal is probably the youngest head football coach seen around these parts in decades. It’s a job that normally goes to football men with long résumés and serious reputations. But the Royals feel like they have a diamond in the rough in the local lad turned team boss. 

Veal grew up in Goleta, the son of Michelle and Eric, as part of a sports-loving crew of five children. “Goleta-born and raised,” he says, though noting that he went against the company line by skipping nearby Dos Pueblos High and going to Bishop Diego High School. Veal was a football rat from the start, beginning with the Youth Football League (“Go Bantam Bears!”). The decision to attend Bishop, in fact, was connected to his YFL roots, as many of his teammates were headed there as well. 

The Bishop years were successful for Veal on and off the field. Under veteran head coach Tom Crawford, the Cardinals had one of their best stretches ever. Veal, a wide receiver and defensive back (eight interceptions in his final season!), was part of a senior class that ended up winning the school’s first state championship in 2017. Their 41-6 victory in the CIF 3AA division made them the first school from the county to hold up a state trophy. Their 15 wins were also a local record. Veal had a touchdown catch in the state title rout, but it was not the first thing he mentioned when asked about his best Bishop memories.

“All the time we spent together,” he says, “that’s what I remember. Especially our senior year. The bus rides, hotel trips, team meals. There’s something so special about high school football. It’s just so authentic and pure. You get to college, and things are much more transactional.”

For Veal, high school football success was the road to college, as a scholarship was going to have to be in the cards. After losing a promised ride to UC Davis, Veal pivoted to College of Idaho, an NAIA school that had just restarted its football program in 2014. He was influenced there by former NFL QB Mike Moroski, Idaho’s head coach. Veal earned three All-Conference selections and was named a Scholar-Athlete by the college. After a senior-year knee injury finally ended his playing days, Veal, with his degree in business administration in hand, came home eager to keep football in his life.

His first call was to Crawford, who welcomed his former player to the staff. 

“We’ve been fortunate that Isaiah, among other former players, showed in his time with us that he understood the impact that being on a team has,” says Crawford. “He had and has that perspective, and while competitive, he tries to meet the kids where they are at. He is a big-picture guy who is energized by what he does and brings positivity to coaching. And that is very cool.”

As an assistant coach at Bishop, “I just ended up falling in love with it,” says Veal, “and falling in love with seeing kids grow and being able to be a mentor. But also, someone who’s in their corner. I guess I wanted to teach them the lessons that I had to learn the hard way.”

Though only four or five years older than his players, Veal was able to quickly find a way to connect his former and current lives. “I matured very quickly in those years after college,” he laughs. A sterling reputation from his time at the school went a long way to helping his new role work out. His younger brother was also a student there at the time.

After three seasons with the Cardinals, the opportunity to try for the San Marcos job came up, and Veal passed all the tests, even at an age when most coaches are still working up the ladder.

Veal arrived on campus in the spring and began to put together his team and his coaching staff, which was all new and almost all younger than he was. They created a summer workout schedule that he admits was so tough that many players decided not to return for the team in the fall. “It’s hard, but only the strong survive in this game,” he said, a classic old-school attitude from a young dude.

One of his models on taking over the Royals was Crawford. Veal credits his former coach’s confidence, attention to detail, and stoic demeanor. “I try to have that be a big part of my coaching points,” says the young coach. “You can’t always do everything, but what we can do is control what we can control, every single play, and that’s our job.”

His Royals charges are all still just a little bit younger than him, and Veal has to walk a fine line between being an older brother and an authority figure. 

“It’s a question of finding that middle ground,” he says. “I want the kids to be comfortable with me and communicate. I want them to realize that I’m young and want to have a great time, in terms of a fun atmosphere at practice. But they also have to understand that there is a time and a place for that and a time to be serious and work.”

San Marcos has a lot of work to do. The Royals have not won a playoff game in more than 20 years. They have one winning record since 2004. Veal says he’s trying to change all that.

“We have a young team that hasn’t really had much success. The biggest thing I think I’ve been able to do with these guys is really flip their brain into saying, ‘Dude, we’re expecting to win football games. We’re expecting to be winners.’ Having that expectation really pushes the guys at practice and knowing this is the standard we have as a team.” 

The Royals were crushed by a much mightier Dana Hills team 56-10 in the season opener on August 21. They lost a 22-21 squeaker to Del Sol in a game that Veal said offered a lot of lessons learned. They must have learned something already; the Royals swamped Channel Islands 35-0 for Veal’s first head-coaching victory on September 4.

“One of the main reasons I coach,” adds Veal, “is because football changed my life and has given me opportunities that I could only dream of ― a college degree, this incredible job, a loving family, new experiences. I want to be able to pay that forward and give these kids the same things.”

Veal doesn’t spend all this time at the Turnpike Road campus. He also works as the executive director of the busy Page Youth Center. And he’s also planning his December wedding to Laura Henderson. A young man in a big hurry, he has big hopes of having to find space on his fingers for a championship ring along with the gold one. 

Youthful success as a coach is not unprecedented. Curly Lambeau was 23 when he took over the Green Bay Packers and won six NFL titles. Sean McVay took over the Rams when he was just 30, and L.A. has been to a pair of Super Bowls. Royals fans are hoping Veal can join those “youngsters” and bring home a title.