Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Matt Tomlin will be on the St. Bernard’s sidelines at least through 2026.
By Ray Hamill — Matt Tomlin won’t be leaving St Bernard’s any time soon.
After giving some serious consideration to his future this offseason, the highly-touted local coach has reached a new five-year agreement with the school to continue to run the Crusaders’ football and baseball teams.
Tomlin was in the process of accepting an offer to coach football at the collegiate level, one of many offers he has received in recent years, when he met with St. Bernard’s principal Paul Shanahan on Tuesday morning.
And after what Tomlin described as “such a great conversation,” the new coach has signed on for five more years at the local high school.
“I couldn’t be any more excited about it,” Tomlin said. “Mr. Shanahan made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. It’s five years on the level of what college coaches receive. I feel blessed.”
The school was equally delighted with the commitment.
“As much as I appreciate Matt’s winning records, league and section titles, and state championships — what I love most is his ability to teach,” Shanahan said. “Matt is just a wonderful teacher.
“From film study in the classroom to practice on the field to halftime adjustments, Matt is a master. Our students perform better in the classroom and in the real world because of their time with Coach Tomlin.”
Tomlin, who was recently voted the 2021 Humboldt Sports Coach of the Year by sports fans here on the North Coast, is a St. Bernard’s graduate who is in his ninth year coaching Crusaders sports and he has enjoyed tremendous success in football, girls basketball and baseball.
He has an overall record of 83-26 on the football sidelines, including a remarkable 26-1 record in the Little 4, and he also has led the Crusaders to pair of section and state titles.
“He is the coach of the decade in Humboldt County,” Shanahan said.
Tomlin graduated from St Bernard’s in 1995 and says his association with the school has been life altering.
“It means the world to me,” he said of the extension. “My life was changed when I came to St. Bernard’s, just being around great coaches and teammates. It made me want to be a coach.”
The long-time, multi-sport coach often describes the Crusaders as “family” and paid tribute to the school for the role everyone there played when his daughter Reve battled cancer recently.
“The school was there for my family when we needed it,” he said.
Reve, who is a St. Bernard’s graduate, is now 100 percent recovered and she began teaching in Alaska this week after graduating from the University of Hawaii Hilo.
The timing of the extension will give the Crusaders a boost this spring, and they believe they have a legitimate shot at a state title in baseball, which schools around California will finally get the opportunity to play for in 2022.
“We’re 20 days away from starting and we feel we have the No. 1 Division-6 team in the state,” Tomlin said.
Categories: baseball, Football, St. Bernard's
It’s crazy how easy it is to be a successful coach when you can recruit any kids of any school in Humboldt without repercussions from the HDN-L.
You obviously don’t know what you are talking about. Just another hater. Several years ago, a coach on the team had sent an unsolicited email to a player on another team, something that many coaches do. Regardless, the coach was vilified in the local press and social media, St. Bernard got fined and was not allowed to compete in playoffs that year.
I have lived here my entire life, third generation, and every school recruits at some level.
Saying there are no repercussions is completely ridiculous.
Good job for SB, and very happy for Matt Tomin a great coach and better teacher!!
“Every school recruits at some level”
Clearly it’s YOU that has no idea what you are talking about. I know from experience that schools like Fortuna, South Fork, Mack, Ferndale, and Hoopa have no hand in recruiting at all, and I cannot speak on Eureka or Arcata.
Those schools play with what they have and make it work.
SB and Tomlin promise Athletes free Tuition if they play sports and pull them with promises no matter who the kids are. And then once the athletes get in trouble at the school (ex: getting caught Smoking weed in Gyms and/or bathrooms) they get an easy slap on the wrist and play in games the next day.
This is why schools around Humboldt can’t stand St. B. That’s why when Fortuna played SB at home for a football playoff game a few years back, almost every school way on Fortunas side.
And BTW, when they did get caught, they lost home playoff games, not playoff rights.
Wow…… John Jennings is either jealous or ignorant. How is it that Matthew Tomlin has excelled in coaching not only boys football to two state titles, boys baseball to a D6 title and girls basketball to a state title, many times moving up a division and competing against schools that have over 2000 students. Heck, I’d be surprised if the total amount of students available to him in all of Humboldt County exceeds many more than that. Must be his commitment to the students and the students committed to him.