Made in Mater Dei: Bruce Rollinson is nation's top QB-producing coach

But in the moments leading up to kickoff, behind the closed doors of Mater Dei's locker room, a more animated figure enjoys a few minutes in the limelight. Head coach Bruce Rollinson, the winningest coach in Mater Dei history, delivers one of his legendary pregame pep talks.

"His pregame speeches give you goosebumps," said Barkley, a 2009 Mater Dei graduate. "He makes you want to dig down and find that place in your heart when you think you can't go anymore. He makes you dig down and find it so you'll go further."

For the past 23 seasons, Mater Dei players have been treated to the kind of speeches that make sports broadcasters salivate and young athletes want to run through walls. With a deep, raspy voice that mirrors the demands of a life in football, Rollinson provides motivation that's almost unparalleled in the high school realm.

A two-time USA Today Coach of the Year, Rollinson boasts a career that includes two national championships, 218 career victories and a stretch of 22 consecutive playoff berths, one that ended when Mater Dei finished 4-6 last season. He's established himself as one of the nation's premier coaches, a gridiron icon on the coast of Southern California.

But the individual accolades are only part of his résumé. Rollinson's greatest legacy may be his ability to produce high-caliber high school quarterbacks, a task he's handled better than anybody in recent memory -- and possibly ever.

Since Rollinson's debut in 1989, Mater Dei has sent 11 quarterbacks to the Division I ranks. That includes Leinart, the 2004 Heisman Trophy winner from USC; Brennan, the 2007 Heisman finalist from Hawaii; and Barkley, the Heisman frontrunner entering his senior season at USC. In his early years at Mater Dei, Rollinson groomed Billy Blanton, who went on to star at San Diego State, and Danny O'Neil, the 1995 Rose Bowl MVP with Oregon. In all, Rollinson's quarterbacks have combined for more than 49,000 passing yards and 422 touchdowns at the D-I level.

In fact, Mater Dei remains one of only three schools to have produced multiple Heisman winners: Leinart and former Notre Dame quarterback John Huarte in 1964.

Along with longtime Mater Dei offensive coordinator Dave Money, Rollinson has created a system that not only facilitates high school success, but prepares young athletes for the speed and complexity of the college game. But it comes at a cost. Monarch quarterbacks are asked to commit to a culture in which lunch breaks double as film sessions and Saturday leisure time takes a backseat to exhaustive position meetings. Barkley and Leinart spent so much time in coach's offices on school nights that Rollinson had to kick them out in order to ensure that they finished their homework.

"If you want to be able to say 'I'm one of the greats,' you have to give up something," said Rollinson. "It's not going to be your family, it's not going to be your religion and it's not going to be your academics. So we're cutting into their social time."

Coach Money handles the X's and O's, creating audible packages tailored to each quarterback's strengths and weaknesses in Mater Dei's pro-style offense. Rollinson is then free to provide insight and emotional support, key requisites for players hoping to succeed in one of sport's most mentally demanding positions.

For Barkley and Leinart, that included calling many of their own plays at the line of scrimmage. The responsibility served as a symbolic vote of confidence from a coach who isn't afraid to place immense faith in his players.

"He brings you to the next level as far as his motivation and his total outlook on what a quarterback should do for your team," said former Mater Dei quarterback Nick Stremick, who led the Monarchs to the 1996 USA Today national championship and is now a private quarterbacks coach in Orange County. "The guy's a leader in every sense of the word."

Added Leinart, "The type of offense they run, the knowledge that they give you and prepare you to take into [college], I mean that's second to none."

Rollinson also helped restore the school's football tradition, as he implemented a series of changes directly after his hiring. A former player under well-known coach Dick Coury, second only to Rollinson on Mater Dei's all-time wins list, Rollinson made a point of bringing back some old practices that had since been abandoned.

That included reintroducing Mater Dei's signature red helmets emblazoned with three white stripes, representing "pride, poise and courage." Rollinson donned the stripes during his playing days in the 1960s, and the look has again become synonymous with Monarch football. The stripes are earned -- not given -- by making the varsity roster. They are presented at a striping ceremony each fall after camp.

"You know you've earned it, you've earned the right to wear those," said Barkley. "It's a big deal for a lot of those sophomores or juniors who are on varsity for the first time. It just kind of gets you fired up."

As the program started to gain momentum, Rollinson's teams began to make national headlines. In 1994, Mater Dei was named USA Today national champion and Rollinson was named National Prep Coach of the Year. In 1996, after another 14-0 campaign, Mater Dei and Rollinson recaptured both crowns.

It wasn't long before Rollinson started receiving attention from college programs. But while the lure of playing in front of thousands of fans on a bigger stage excited the man who built his coaching persona around a seemingly never-ending stream of energy, he made the decision that more important aspects of coaching were available at Mater Dei.

"High school is where I could fulfill my goals and aspirations," said Rollinson. "I've got administrative support, I've got parental support and I've got great coaches and I just said, 'You know what? Let's rock it here.'"

That's not to say he hasn't made a collegiate impact. If Barkley does go on to win the Heisman this year, Rollinson will become the only known high school coach ever to have developed two separate Heisman winners, according to the Heisman Trust.

"He's just been able to build something over time to where players wanna play for him, QBs wanna play for him," said Leinart. "There's been a great history of QB play there and great tradition in general."

Still, no matter how famous his players become, to Rollinson, they'll always just be his kids. He remains in contact with many of them, and it's not out of the ordinary to see Rollinson dining with Barkley at USC, watching a Mater Dei basketball game with Leinart or reminiscing with handfuls of former D-I players at practices and games.

"I'm more concerned that they're still good men," he said. "You have to represent pride, poise and courage in everything that you do. Once you wear the stripes, you take your helmet off for the final time but your stripes go on your heart."