Crescent Valley, Pleasant Hill fill football coaching vacancies

Both schools are trying to turn around their recent fortunes

Kenny Koberstein, who last coached at South Eugene in 2019, has been hired at Pleasant Hill for the 2025 high school football season. / Michele Bunch

Two Mid-Valley schools recently filled football coaching vacancies, with Crescent Valley and Pleasant Hill naming new coaches.

Crescent Valley elevated JV2 head coach Jovan Stevenson to take over for Andrew McClave as the program transitions from Class 5A to 4A after a 2-7 season.

Stevenson is a Tucson, Ariz., native who played cornerback and running back for Oregon State from 2009-13.

Before joining the Raiders staff, he coached running backs and defensive backs at crosstown rival Corvallis in 2022.

The Raiders' last winning season was in 2018, but Stevenson will have promising freshman quarterback Zeke Thomas (2,503 passing yards, 28 touchdowns) to build around.

Pleasant Hill hired former Myrtle Point and South Eugene coach Kenny Koberstein to replace Jeremiah Heacock, who resigned in December after three seasons.

Koberstein coached one season at Myrtle Point in 2011 and one year at South Eugene, leading the Axe to a 5-4 record. He stepped down after the school canceled the 2021 spring and fall seasons.

Since then, he has worked on KEZI's weekend college football recap show, College Gamenight.

"I've always felt Pleasant Hill had all the tools to be successful as a football program," Koberstein said in an email. "You look at the success they've had historically in basketball, baseball and track, and you see the foundation of athletes is there. It's our job now to build up that foundation into something exciting that the community can be proud of."

The Billies, whose last appearance in a state final was 2001, went 3-6 last year. Their last winning season was in 2016, when they went 6-4, but Koberstein expects to hit the ground running.

"I expect our team and program to compete in all that they do from Day 1," he said. "We need to trust that our process and our work will lead to the results we are looking for."

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