In a move that seemed almost predestined to happen at some point, Wilson High has hired Bruin legacy Scott Meyer as its next head football coach. Meyer had been the head coach at Lakewood for the last two seasons, and will step onto the WIlson campus to replace Mark Ziegenhagen, who had a very successful six-year run with the Bruins.
Meyer is a third-generation Wilson alum and will become a third-generation Bruins football head coach. His grandfather, Cliff Meyer, was in the first graduating class of the school, was its first football team captain, and was an athletic director, football, and baseball coach at the school from 1942-1961. The Wilson football stadium is named after him. Meyer’s father, Jon, was the head coach at Wilson from 1975-82 and was a longtime LBUSD school boardmember before retiring last year.
“I’m coming home,” said Meyer. “I’ve been able to coach at some great places and have some great experiences. But every time I’d drive by Wilson there was an understanding of the family legacy–that’s where I played, that’s where I went to school. There was never a hurry to get there but it’s been in the back of my mind my whole career. It all worked out–this is the right time.”
Meyer is deeply experienced in coaching in the Moore League, having been the head coach at Jordan earlier in his career, as well as Lakewood the last two seasons. In between those stints he won back-to-back CIF-SS titles at Corona del Mar and coached at Servite for four years as well.
“This is it, this is my final stop,” said Meyer. “I look forward to putting in some solid years and calling it a wrap as a Bruin.”
The Wilson administration was thrilled with the ability to hire a Bruin legacy.
“Coach Meyer will carry on the torch that was lit by the coaches before him,” said Lloyd Wilson, the school’s assistant principal over athletics and the head of the coaching search process. “We’re excited to bring back an alumni to lead our football program.”
Meyer said that after he accepted the job Monday evening and talked to his family, he drove to his parents’ house to break the news in person.
“The first thing I thought about was my family, my grandpa, my dad, everybody that’s been through Wilson,” he said. “I drove to my parents’ house, I walked in and told them. They had no idea that I’d even applied so they were shocked at first, but then very happy.”
Meyer’s son, Nick, went through Wilson as a fourth-generation Bruin, and his son Kingston will be a member of the school’s 100th graduating class, adding to the family feeling that this was meant to be.
Meyer said he’s happy to continue on the work that Ziegenhagen has done, and was excited at the prospect of having two talented and experienced assistants on campus in Jim Houston and John Janzen, both of whom coached with Ziegenhagen.
“They’ve built a great program and I’m excited to continue that tradition,” said Meyer. “I think I can tie into that history and tradition at the school.”
For the moment Meyer will remain as a teacher at Lakewood since there were no positions open at Wilson, but he said he’s hoping to transfer over to the school soon. He also said it was hard leaving Lakewood.
“That’s the not fun part of something like this,” he said. “We’re leaving Lakewood in a great spot, though--there are a lot of good things happening with the weight room and the program is in a good position financially, they have a great athletic director in Mike Wadley. I hope they can hire someone great and keep building there as well.”
With the first game of the season less than three months away, Lakewood will begin an immediate search for Meyer’s replacement.
