Head coach Chris Bean from Twelve Bridges of Lincoln is shown not long after his team captured its first CIF Sac-Joaquin Section title. Photo: Mark Tennis.
For taking a brand new school to records of 12-1 and 14-1 in just its second and third varsity seasons, Chris Bean from Twelve Bridges of Lincoln gains top state medium schools honor. For small schools, a coach who went 12-0 in his first season in 2009 at Carmel, Golden Anderson, and who just went 15-0 for 2024 is the one who takes the top prize.
Congratulations to the following two California coaches for joining Cal-Hi Sports State Coach of the Year Raul Lara as additional honorees for accomplishments by their teams during the 2024 football season. To read more about Coach Lara, CLICK HERE.
Note: We hope you enjoy this free post. Cal-Hi Sports All-State Football content that will be for Gold Club members include second, final list of nominees plus second team, third team overall and All-State Underclass. The free posts will be first team overall and first team small schools and medium schools. If you want to check out all of our rankings content, all of our all-state content and state record updates, you can check it out for just $4.99 to cover a one-month subscription. For info, CLICK HERE.
CHECK OUT CALGAMESWANTED.COM
Created for Coaches by Coaches for California Varsity High School Head Coaches and Athletic Directors, Start building your schedule with CalGamesWanted.com.
User friendly to take the stress out of scheduling.
Medium Schools
State Coach of the Year
Chris Bean (Twelve Bridges, Lincoln)
There are a few exceptions we’ve covered over the years, such as Pleasant Grove of Elk Grove when it began, but brand new schools are not supposed to be going 12-1 in their second varsity season and then 14-1 with a CIF regional title in their third. But that’s what Bean and his staff have done at Twelve Bridges, which opened in 2021 as the second high school in the bustling Lincoln community located just west of Roseville off of Highway 65.
Twelve Bridges head coach Chris Bean gives a big hug to star running back Braeden Ward after team won SJS D4 championship. Photo: Mark Tennis / Cal-Hi Sports.
The Raging Rhinos have quickly become a top-level program in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section and for that their coach has now captured a top state coaching honor. The last coach from a CIFSS school to be medium schools coach of the year was Eric Reis of Manteca for 2006. He is now Manteca’s athletic director. The one before that was Tony Martello of Colfax, which has been small schools for most of its history but in 2003 was playing in a higher section playoff division.
We know that being on the same list as Martello will be a thrill for Coach Bean since he was a JV quarterback himself at Colfax and the JV coach there at the time was Martello. He is now retired (has come back to coach girls flag) but won 230 games as a head coach at Colfax and is on our all-time state coaching wins list.
While Twelve Bridges took it on the chin in a 55-19 loss to Palos Verdes in the CIF D2-A state championship, the Sea Kings played in a large school league and have been considered large schools for most seasons. The Raging Rhinos were 14-0 coming into that game as a new school in just its third season. They had edged Wilcox of Santa Clara, 28-27, to win their first CIF NorCal title and before that were on the other side of a one-sided rout with a 55-7 victory over Patterson to win their first SJS title (it came in D4). Bean’s team was 12-0 in 2023 in just its second varsity season coming into the SJS D4 championship, but took a heart-breaking 23-22 loss to Casa Roble of Orangevale.
Bean came over to start the new program at Twelve Bridges after serving as the head coach at Lincoln High since 2014. The Fighting Zebras had some good seasons, but were 34-35 in the years that Bean was head coach there. He had taken that job after learning the ropes as a JV head coach at Bear River (Lake of the Pines). The Bruins are big rivals of Colfax (Bean’s alma mater), but had co-coaches Terry Logue and Scott Savoie there at the time. Logue has been the one among those two who got the coaching wins and he also had more than 200 wins in his career.
In the first varsity season with no seniors in 2022, Twelve Bridges had a 7-5 record but only lost to Hughson in the SJS D6 quarterfinals, 35-34, and Hughson went on to win a CIF state title. The Raging Rhinos went 9-1 in 2021 just after the school opened playing with no juniors or seniors and just in JV games.
After the loss to Palos Verdes, we had to ask Coach Bean a delicate question. Back in 1999, my brother, John Tennis, was a police officer in Sacramento and was involved in a shooting that took the life of Sacramento police officer Bill Bean. We had heard about the tragic events since John was the first officer to arrive on scene. He knew that his colleague was seriously injured, but knew that he had a partner with him. John instead went after the shooter and helped secure the scene. That criminal was later convicted and received a death sentence. The fallen officer was indeed Coach Bean’s older brother by five years. We think about that night a lot since it easily could have been John’s patrol car that did the traffic stop instead of the other one. We know the Bean family will never get over what happened. Coach Bean’s father, Bill Bean Sr., also helps coach the Raging Rhinos and my brother has since mentioned that he once met Bill Sr. at a memorial for his son.
Family connections certainly helped fuel the success of the Twelve Bridges program. They also can happen in much different circumstances.
Recent Cal-Hi Sports Medium Schools
State Coaches of the Year
2023 – Floyd Burnsed (Acalanes, Lafayette); 2022 – Jeff Bailey (Yorba Linda); 2021 – Marlon Gardinera (San Diego Scripps Ranch); 2020 – Mazi Moayad (Marin Catholic, Kentfield)*; 2019 – Mike Moon (Pacifica, Oxnard); 2018 – Mark Cooley (Pleasant Valley, Chico); 2017 – Josh Henderson (Grace Brethren, Simi Valley); 2016 – Trent Merzon (Oakdale); 2015 – Mike Moschetti (La Mirada); 2014 – Kevin Macy (Campolindo, Moraga); 2013 – Scott Meyer (Corona del Mar, Newport Beach); 2012 – Rick Jackson (Madison, San Diego); 2011 – Rick Prinz (Paradise); 2010 – Paul Cronin (Cardinal Newman, Santa Rosa); 2009 – Sean Doyle (Cathedral Catholic, San Diego); 2008 – Lou Farrar (Charter Oak, Covina); 2007 – Ray Fenton (Cypress); 2006 – Eric Reis (Manteca); 2005 – Robin Luken (Lompoc); 2004 – Rob Gilster (Valley Center); 2003 – Tony Martello (Colfax); 2002 – Tom St. Jacques (Lassen, Susanville).
*Games played in spring 2021 due to pandemic. Burnsed & Gardinera also were the overall State Coaches of Year.
Small Schools State Coach of the Year
Golden Anderson (Carmel)
This year’s 15-0 record that was posted by Anderson’s team at Carmel is not the first unbeaten team that he’s had. In his very first year of 2009 after taking over for previous head coach Craig Johnston, Anderson and the Padres went 12-0 and won a CIF Central Coast Section title. Those were the days, though, when only a few teams were selected to participate in the CIF regional bowl games and Carmel didn’t get a call.
Carmel head coach Golden Anderson is holding “The Shoe,” a trophy that goes to the winner of the annual rivalry game between the Padres and Pacific Grove. This is after the 2023 game. Photo: thesandpiper.org.
The Padres could have been placed higher than D-5AA for this year’s CIF games after winning the CCS D3 championship with a 13-0 record. Regardless, they took advantage of their opportunity. After escaping with a 41-40 win in the NorCal title game vs battle-tested Acalanes of Lafayette (the CIF D3-AA champion from 2023), Carmel crushed El Capitan of Lakeside, 48-7, to win its first-ever state title. The team was No. 3 in the final small schools state rankings behind only D4-AA state champ St. Vincent de Paul of Petaluma and D3-A runner-up by one point in OT Rio Hondo Prep of Arcadia.
For the career he’s had so far and for having the team with the best record in the state this season at 15-0 (Mater Dei of Santa Ana, the No. 1 team in the nation, finished 13-0), Anderson has now been selected as the Small Schools State Coach of the Year. He’s only the second-ever honoree from the CCS, joining Pete Lavorato from Sacred Heart Prep of Atherton for the 2012 season.
This year’s team at Carmel, like the others that Anderson has coached, was known for high-scoring offense and athletes such as QB Hudson Rutherford, RB Ashton Rees, WR/DB Simeon Brown, OL/DL Jackson Lloyd and others who all play multiple sports. The only reason Lloyd didn’t quickly head out to the basketball court after football ended is that he graduated early and headed out to the University of Alabama as one of the nation’s top offensive linemen. The Padres’ total of 687 points this season not only is a school record, but broke the all-time CCS record of 676 that the team scored in 2011.
Anderson’s coaching record also is beginning to climb on the list of coaches with 100 or 150 career wins or more with the best winning percentages. This year’s 15-0 mark, coming on the heels of a 10-1 record from last season, puts Anderson at 142-37 since 2009. That’s a 79.3 win percentage. It actually takes 150 wins to get on to that state record list so he needs a few more wins, but for a comparison legendary Monterey/Santa Cruz County coach Norm Costa (known mostly for his years at Palma of Salinas) had a mark of 79.2. This year’s team at Carmel also put Anderson’s totals for league championships at 10 and for undefeated regular seasons at seven.
Recent Cal-Hi Sports Small Schools
State Coaches of the Year
2023 – Jeromy Blackwell (Strathmore); 2022 – Nick Velazquez (Orland); 2021 – Rick Davis (Jackson Argonaut); 2020 – Ryan Reynolds (Sutter)*; 2019 – Chris Musseman (Ripon); 2018 – Michael Peters (McClymonds, Oakland); 2017 – David Griffiths (Big Bear, Big Bear Lake); 2016 – Jim Kunau (Rancho Christian, Temecula); 2015 – Tom Crawford (Bishop Diego, Santa Barbara); 2014 – Roger Canepa (Central Catholic, Modesto); 2013 – Matt Oliver (Christian, El Cajon); 2012 – Pete Lavorato (Sacred Heart Prep, Atherton); 2011 – Jon Ellinghouse (Sierra Canyon, Chatsworth); 2010 – Mark Louriero (Escalon); 2009 – Jack Moyer (Fort Bragg); 2008 – Frank Marques (Hilmar); 2007 – Kim Jorgensen (Ferndale); 2006 – Travis Brackett (Novato); 2005 – Matt Hunsaker (Central Valley, Shasta Lake); 2004 – Rich Cotruvo (Justin-Siena, Napa); 2003 – Mike Glines (Central Catholic, Modesto); 2002 – Coley Candaele (Carpinteria).
*Games played in spring 2021 due to pandemic.
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
