Three of the San Diego Section’s open high school head football coaching positions were filled Thursday, with Lew Barnes taking over at Olympian, Jason Texler being named at Fallbrook and Bo Seibel the new man at Southwest-El Centro.
Barnes played at Lincoln High School, where he was first-team All-CIF in 1980 as a defensive back, and Oregon, where he was a first-team All-American as a receiver in 1985. A receiver/return man as a pro, Barnes played 31 NFL games for the Chicago Bears, Atlanta Falcons and Kansas City Chiefs.
Barnes joins Eric Weddle (Rancho Bernardo), David Dunn (Lincoln), Bryan Wagner (Hilltop), Nick Barnett (Del Norte), Shane Walton (Bishop’s) and Nick Novak (Maranatha) as San Diego Section high school head coaches who played in the NFL.
Olympian was 3-7 last season and is 20-42 over the last seven seasons.
Texler brings a wealth of experience to the Fallbrook job. In 12 years as a head coach, Texler led El Cajon Valley to an 18-16 record in three seasons and a berth in a 2005 CIF championship game, went 5-15-1 in two seasons at Escondido and went 56-27 in seven seasons at San Marcos.
He was an assistant at El Camino last season.
Fallbrook was 0-11 last season and is 27-67 over the last nine years. But the Warriors were 9-4 as recently as 2022.
“Everyone I spoke with said Fallbrook has great kids and great support from the community and administration,” Texler said. “Fallbrook is a small town, a one-high-school town. I find that appealing. Because it’s a small town, there will be a flux in talent, good years and bad.”
A tough schedule and injuries killed last season for the Warriors. The upside is more than a dozen freshmen and sophomores got a chance to get varsity experience.
“I understand there is a good young group at Fallbrook,” Texler said. “And the next two in-coming classes are said to be very talented. There are a lot of multi-sport athletes, and I like that.
“I’m excited about this opportunity. I have a vision of what I’d like to do, but I need to see what we have before I push too hard.”
Seibel takes over a Southwest program that was 0-10 last season and is 12-55 over the last seven years. He spent three years as head coach at Yuma High School in Arizona, leading the Criminals to a 7-3 season in 2022. He was the activities director at Weyauwega-Fremont High School in Wisconsin last year.
Vista and Brawley are still looking for coaches.
#### San Diego’s high school football coaching carousel
**School/Out/In**
Olympian/Brad Carter/Lew Barnes
Fallbrook/Ross Johnson/Jason Texler
Monte Vista/Rom Hamamoto/Page Culver
Madison/Rick Jackson/Kenny Sears
Otay Ranch/Brad Burton/Howard Bannister
Chula Vista/Howard Bannister/Jimmy Clark
Foothills Christian/Joe Mackey/Dustin Turley
Mira Mesa/Aurelio Morales/Jorge Reyes
Southwest-El Centro/Peter Blincone/Bo Seibel
Vista/Vika Fa’atuiese/Still vacant
Brawley/Lawrence Landy/Still vacant
Originally Published: March 13, 2025 at 3:45 PM PDT