Millikan is expected to announce the hire of Romeo Pellum as the school’s next head football coach sometime this week.
Pellum has been offered the job and has accepted, but no formal announcement can be made until the hire has gone through official Long Beach Unified School District channels.
The move could be seen as unconventional because Pellum has limited experience coaching at the high school level. He is, however, a deeply respected club coach in the football world with plenty of Long Beach ties. A North Long Beach native, Pellum played for new Lakewood coach Scott Meyer for three years at Jordan, before finishing his career at Santa Fe High.
Pellum played professional ball in the Arena League and had a two-year coaching stint as an assistant at Santa Fe High; perhaps his most valuable experience is in the 7 on 7 world, where he owns the Players of the Future organization. While Pellum won’t be on campus as a teacher, he’s expected to be an all-day presence at Millikan because of the flexibility of his business.
Pellum’s connections are also deep in the collegiate world–he’s the nephew of legendary UCLA defensive assistant Don Pellum, and Romeo has reportedly already been working the phones on behalf of Millikan senior Malik Bradford, who decommitted from Cal earlier this year.
Other candidates for the job included returning assistant coaches from former coach Justin Utupo’s staff, as well as Warren offensive coordinator and former Poly offensive line coach Brent Perez.
We’ll have more from Pellum and Millikan after the hire has been formally announced.
