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 football fans are the largest and loudest group of local sports fans in the city, and they’re never shy about expressing their opinion. Recently, Jackrabbit fans and the larger Long Beach football community reacted loudly–and favorably–to the hiring of Poly alum Travon Patterson as the school’s next football coach.
“It’s been really humbling and exciting,” he said about the online response. “Now it’s about taking the momentum and moving forward.”
Patterson’s hire getting approval from the community isn’t surprising since this go-around, the Poly administration did a full coaching search and also had a community panel to interview the candidates. Multiple interviewees confirmed that legendary Poly coach Jerry Jaso (also a Poly alum) as well as Daysha Austin were on the panel. Austin has been heavily involved in Long Beach youth football for years and is the mother of recent Poly alums Alex and Daylen Austin (Alex will be playing in the Super Bowl for the New England Patriots).
The news of Patterson’s hiring received thousands of likes and shares and hundreds of comments on The562’s social media pages, a feel-good moment for the Poly community after a frustrating football season. The most overwhelming reaction from those sharing the story was excitement that the Jackrabbits’ administration hired an alum.
Poly football hasn’t had an alumni running the program since Raul Lara, who won five CIF Southern Section Division 1 championships from 2001 through 2013. The program has had three other coaches since: Antonio Pierce, Stephen Barbee, and Justin Utupo. Pierce’s Jackrabbits were still a Division 1-relevant program, Barbee won a CIF-SS championship, and Utupo’s one year was the difficult 2024.
Fair or not, many Poly fans reacted negatively on social media to the fact that Utupo was a Lakewood alum, and felt that hometown cooking would be needed to restore the Poly tradition.
As Facebook commenter Joshua Morgan wrote of Patterson, “He know the language and the journey. Congratulations Coach.” Gregory Williams wrote, “Nothing like having that homegrown cooking in the kitchen!! Good selection and good luck LB Poly!!”
One thing that Poly fans don’t always acknowledge is that they aren’t always the nicest to their own. Even Lara, who was wildly successful by any measure, was heckled and dealt with negative comments, something he’d often joke about while coaching at his alma mater. Alum Chris Love acknowledged the need to come together behind Patterson.
“Now we need to get behind and support him,” he wrote. “He understands the tradition.”
Other comments highlighted his deep roots, with one Poly alum writing, “He was my son’s first football coach on the Patriots. He set the standard and no other football coach has even come close to him. Already looking forward to the next football season especially since it will be led by a Jackrabbit alumni. Loyalty isn’t just our school song, it’s everything.”
Prominent Poly alums and members of the community left messages of support, including multiple NFL players. Among those commenting were Jayon Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marcedes Lewis, Terrence Austin, Tray Session, Antoine Cason, Will Alo, Knocc Smith, Johnny Nash, Matt Rowe, Reggie Ward, and Nicc Iamaleava, the father of UCLA QBs Nico and Madden Iamaleava.
Other coaches even commented in support of the decision, including Millikan’s Romeo Pellum and former Poly coach Justin Utupo.
Ultimately, Patterson’s success will depend on a number of factors. First is keeping star players already in the program from transferring, which he’s already done a good job of. Another is assembling a coaching staff–announcements are expected soon on some key coordinator positions.
The other factors will be the ability to attract the next generation of Poly players, and to have the support of the school and district administration. Poly and USC legend Hershel Dennis noted that changes in district policy have hurt the Poly football program, and hoped that they’d support Patterson.
“I’m happy for my brother and hope the fan base has grace with your process,” he said. “It’s not easy being a head coach at the Ly. Praying for support through thick and thin, and hopefully this hire keeps the bigs in the city.”
