The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Former Jackrabbits Wendell “WoWo” Moe, Jr. & Tyson Ruffins.
Long Beach Poly fans got what they were asking for. The Jackrabbits’ administration is hiring one of their own as the school’s next football coach in Travon Patterson. With the hiring of the Poly, USC, and Chargers receiver, one of the nation’s most historic prep programs will be led by an alumni for the first time since 2013.
Patterson was the overwhelming preference of the returning Poly players as well as many prominent members of the Jackrabbits’ large alumni community, which wanted an alum in charge. He had been the school’s receivers coach starting three years ago, and recently was the associate head coach. With Patterson’s accomplishments on the field and lifelong loyalty to the school, he was the clear pick.
“I’m just thankful people rallied around me,” he said. “To be wanted by the community and the kids, that lets me know that people will do whatever they can to support the kids. I’m proud. I’m a proud Poly alum, I’m a proud coach and I’m ready to hit the ground and just start working.”
“He’s a Poly guy who’s been around the program and knows what it’s about and he’s dedicated,” said longtime Poly athletic director Rob Shock. “Great to have a Poly guy at home.”
The class of 2006 alum takes over a Poly program in a time of transition. The Jackrabbits went 5-5 in the regular season each of the last two years, the first time that’s happened in 50 seasons of football; Patterson will be the program’s third coach in three years, which has never happened before. Poly has lost the Moore League title each of the last two years, after having only lost it once previously in the last three decades.
And yet–there’s still a ton of next-level talent within the program, and the Jackrabbits still have one of the most high-profile brands and histories of any high school in the country. Their job opening was listed as one of MaxPreps’ five most prominent job openings in America earlier this week, for example.
Patterson said he had no reservations about taking over a Poly program coming off a turbulent year, which saw the Jackrabbits forfeit a game for just the second time in the last 45 years, and miss the playoffs for also the second time in that span.
“You just have to put that behind us and let the kids and community know that we’re ready to move forward,” he said. “People make mistakes. You put that behind you, learn from your mistakes and know what to do moving forward to make sure the program is in a better space.”
It’s not surprising that Patterson ended up as a football coach, given his playing career. He played for Raul Lara at Poly, then Pete Carroll at USC, where his offensive coordinator was Steve Sarkisian and his receivers coach was Lane Kiffin.
“You see their success, and then when I got to the Chargers it was Norv Turner and in Montreal it was Mark Trestman,” he said. “I learned a lot in those meeting rooms–their philosophy but also how they’re conducting their day to day and what they expected from their players as well.”
Patterson is a realtor in Long Beach, and will follow the Jackrabbits’ tradition of being a walk-on coach who’s able to dedicate a full-time type of schedule to coaching, similar to the way Lara did. He said as he was building his professional career, it was always with an eye towards coaching.
“When my career was done I just still had the itch to be around the game,” he said. “I’ve been coaching youth since 2015 and then high school the last three years–I’ve never coached at any other high school, never want to coach anywhere else. I’ve been offered other things but I didn’t see myself doing it anywhere but Poly.”
Patterson said he would have jumped at the chance to coach his alma mater, but that he was relieved to hear that the CIF Southern Section would not impose any additional sanctions against Poly after the school fired previous head coach Justin Utupo.
“It relieved a lot of stress,” he said. “Mainly because it was an opportunity for a lot of other coaches and programs to try and poach our kids, and they did try. Everything was unknown, so we had no answers for parents other than to sit and hold tight. Getting that great news gives us something to say in response now.”
The CIF-SS’ increased enforcement over athletes using false addresses to gain immediate eligibility had its desired effect–a recent CIF-SS release shows that there’s been a 28% drop in address change transfer applications, year over year. Some of that enforcement fell on private schools, like Bishop Montgomery, whose program was ended. But many local families felt that as Millikan had eight athletes ruled ineligible and forfeit two games, Poly had six and forfeit one game, and Compton had an athlete ruled ineligible–the enforcement hit public schools harder.
One thing that is not a secret is that while address change enforcement has increased, plenty of other illegal activity is going on–including recruitment. Several Poly high-level players acknowledged (without wanting to go on record) that they were directly approached about transferring by Trinity League coaching staffs last year after Stephen Barbee stepped down, and this year after Utupo was fired. That behavior has created a situation where coaches can need to “re-recruit” their own rosters.
Raudric Curtis had a strong regular season in his first year at Wilson for example, but still had the program’s top recruit when he was hired in Evan Mack transfer out to Crean Lutheran. When Utupo was hired last year he acknowledged having to spend a large amount of time talking to the program’s current players who had been hearing from Trinity League schools.
Patterson said he’s not too concerned about the landscape and that trend.
“I haven’t put too much thought into it, honestly,” he said. “I’m going to let our kids know they can have their own legacy here. Stay and finish what you started, be remembered as the team that got Poly back on top, the team that won a championship. It’s been rough the past couple years–be the reason the city is proud of Poly again. Anyone from Poly knows what a legacy it is in this city when you’re a part of one of those teams.”
As far as what the team looks like on the field, Patterson is planning on tapping into Poly’s history of utilizing speed and playmaking from the team’s skill positions.
“We’ll use all the speed and talent we have on the team, our offense will be explosive,” he said. “Defensively we’re going to fly around, be physical and create turnovers.”
The most important thing he’s emphasizing is a return to detail-oriented football, which the Jackrabbits struggled with last season.
“We have to get back to being detail-oriented, that’s what separates good programs from great ones,” he said. “Those details have to be sharpened every day in practice, every day in the offseason. We have the talent–it’s avoiding penalties, knowing how to align properly.”
