Who exactly did JSerra Catholic hire in former NFL great Hardy Nickerson?

Though tenacity, a competitive edge led him to more than 1,500 career NFL tackles, balance might be the key to the latest gem to lead a Trinity League program

Father (right), like son, Hardy Nickerson Sr. and Hardy Nickerson Jr., are leaving Oakland's Bishop O'Dowd for JSerra Catholic of San Juan Capistrano in southern Orange County. / Courtesy photo: Amy Nickerson

To say the Holiday season has been good to Hardy Nickerson would be an understatement. That said, he can’t wait for Christmas morning itself. 

“Honestly, I’m looking forward to just sleeping in a little,” said the new football coach at JSerra Catholic. “It’s definitely been a whirlwind.” 

All the wind has been at Nickerson’s back. 

The 60-year-old, a 16-year NFL linebacker for four teams, was announced as the Lions’ new coach Wednesday as first reported by Tarek Fattal on High School On SI five days after he led Bishop O’Dowd to a 37-0 CIF State Division 5-AA win over El Cajon’s Christian High School to finish off his fourth season and second stint at the Oakland private school. 

His team’s went 31-8 in that time after going 29-17 his first four-year stint from 2010-2013. 

After that Nickerson coached linebackers for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the San Francisco 49ers before taking over as defensive coordinator for the University of Illinois. 

Some believe coaching at JSerra in the Trinity League, with the likes of Mater Dei, St. John Bosco and the latest national juggernaut Santa Margarita, coming off a state Open Division title, is like coaching at the college level. 

National search

Carson Palmer, an All-Pro NFL quarterback, spent six years deciding what he wanted to do after retiring and last season took over at his alma mater Santa Margarita.

JSerra officials hope they found their Palmer in Nickerson. 

They scoured the nation for their next head coach and received more than 100 applications. Names like Phillip Rivers, Eric Weddle and Drew Brees were bantered about. 

But Nickerson was their man, which speaks to the man’s competitive edge. One that led him to more than 1,500 NFL tackles, 21 sacks, 19 forced fumbles and 14 recovered.  

“I love to compete and I want to compete at the highest level and I want to win at the highest level,” he said Wednesday night. “It’s very exciting to coach in this league.” 

Nickerson is the first black head coach in the Trinity League, which is regarded as the best league in America that was founded in 2008. 

“That means a great deal to me,” Nickerson said. “Whenever you’re the first at anything it carries great responsibility and I plan to meet it with excellence.”

Hardy Nickerson is the new coach at JSerra in Southern California after winning a CIF State championship at Bishop O'Dowd. / Charles Chang

Marathon man

That has always been Nickerson’s nature, though nothing is all-consuming. Balance is the key to Nickerson’s life path.  

He took up long-distance running and nutrition 6-7 years ago and now he’s fit as a fiddle, not at all resembling a former NFL linebacker. 

Nickerson and his wife of 36 years Amy, who he met while earning All-Pac-10 honors at Cal, are approaching their golden years. Not too late for Nickerson to earn an MBA degree at UC Davis in June of 2024. 

“Life is good,” Nickerson told us in the fall of 2024. 

Nickerson’s first hire, he said, will be his son Hardy Nickerson Jr., who coached with him the first three seasons in his second O’Dowd stint. Nickerson Jr., who played for his father at both O’Dowd and Illinois, also played in the NFL for five seasons. 

The younger Nickerson left coaching last summer to follow in his dad’s footsteps and pursue an advanced degree, his at UCLA. That is a big part of the reason his dad sought a job in Southern California. It’s also where he is from and played high school football at Verbum Dei in Los Angeles. 

He and Amy’s two other children are professionals — one is an artist and the other an attorney — are in Los Angeles. 

“All my kids live in Southern California so it made sense,” he said. “My wife and I will be moving soon and I hope to be all in place by Jan. 6.” 

The Whirlwind

That may be a challenge, even for the active and productive Nickerson, whose team won a Northern California 5-AA title in Chico on Dec. 5, won the state title in Fullerton on Friday (Dec. 12), drove by bus back to the Bay Area that night arriving at 3 a.m. Dec. 13, and interviewed for the job in Orange County on Monday (Dec. 15.).  

He was announced as the coach on Wednesday and zoomed with his O’Dowd team in the afternoon. 

“It was emotional,” he said. “We talked a lot about change. In life, things do change. … The guys were able to express their feelings. It was a really good, intimate talk. Those kids poured their heart and soul into it and did everything we asked them to do. Nothing came easy.” 

Indeed, the Dragons started 1-3 and won 11 of their last 12. They put their best performance together in what turned out was Nickerson’s last game in leadership there. According to their MaxPreps roster of 50, only 14 were seniors. 

Their top prospects were running back Lamar Ellis and quarterback Christian Cermenelli-Johnson and sophomore Athlete Bryan Edwards. 

“The program is in much better shape than when I found it,” Nickerson said.

Bishop O'Dowd junior Lamar Ellis led his team to a state title and is a top college prospect, according Hardy Nickerson. / Photo by Jim Malone

Trinity League Ally

The Lions will need to get much better to even compete in the Trinity League, where it has had one winning season since 2014 when Jim Hartigan led them to records of 10-2 and 4-1. Since then the league record has been a combined 15-40. 

Considering the competition, no shame there. 

He already got more than one congratulatory text from one of his competitors, St. John Bosco’s Jason Negro. 

The two had struck a friendship when Nickerson recruited the Braves heavily while at Illinois. 

“I’ve always admired his work and all he’s done at St. John Bosco,” Nickerson said. “When I got back into coaching at O’Dowd, he was one of the first I reached out to get a sense of the landscape of high school football.

“I’m not sure how much he’ll offer now (laughter) but he did extend good wishes and a welcome to the Trinity League.”

Graphic from JSerra Catholic on the hire of Hardy Nickerson / Graphic courtesy of JSerra Catholic