Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Nick White looks on from the sideline during a game last season.
By Ray Hamill — Nick White has stepped down as head coach of the Del Norte High football program after four years in charge.
The well-respected and highly-successful coach announced his decision publicly on Thursday and says he is stepping away for personal reasons.
“I just want to spend more time with family,” White said. “The time and commitment is a lot. It’s pretty much a 365-day job if you’re doing it right.”
White led the Warriors to three straight Big 4 titles in his three full seasons with the team — there was no official league during the COVID-shortened spring season of 2021 — while posting an outstanding overall record of 34-8 (12-0 in league).
In 2019, in his first season in charge, White led the Warriors to a first-ever North Coast Section championship and a state championship game appearance.
Asked what he will remember the most from his time in charge, the coach responded, “I think just the people, the relationships and everybody that put in the work to build the program to where it got. That’s a special part of it.
“I want to thank the coaches who put so much time in and spent time away from family to make it work, and the players who gave everything, and the parents who bought in. You can’t have a program without the support of the parents.
“And the community that does an amazing job here. We had a lot of support and a lot of backing. Everybody worked hand in hand.”
White, who is considered one of the top coaches in the entire NCS, won the admiration of his peers during his time in charge.
“I have so much respect for coach White and what he brought to Del Norte football and the Big 4 conference,” St. Bernard’s head coach Matt Tomlin said. “His teams showed the most improvement in the weight room every year, and I really thought him and his brother (assistant coach Chris White) were so good at maximizing what his players do.
“I have so much respect for him and his coaching staff. He definitely will be missed.”
White, who spent almost a decade as an assistant coach with the program before taking over as head coach, is a former College of the Redwoods and Humboldt State (now Cal Poly Humboldt) player.
The Fort Bragg High graduate was named the Jacks Defensive MVP in his senior season after leading the conference in tackles.
Prior to that, he was a part of the Corsairs’ back-to-back championship teams in the early 2000s, the last time the school won a conference title in football.
As the Warriors head coach, he helped build one of the most respected programs in the H-DN — in any sport — after taking over from Lewis Nova, who stepped down after the 2018 season.
White, who is the younger brother of CR head coach Jason White, did not immediately rule out a return to the sidelines at some stage in the future.
“I imagine I will,” he said. “We’ll see what happens in the next chapter of my life.”
