A USC legend won a major coaching award: Trojan fans must take notice
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This week, former USC football quarterback and current Santa Margarita High School football coach Carson Palmer received the MaxPreps National Coach of the Year award.
Trojan fans should be proud of Palmer, a legendary football alum who only continues to add to his legacy. But the relevance of what Palmer is doing at Santa Margarita goes far beyond personal accolades.
Let’s talk about the deeper trends USC should appreciate from Palmer’s legendary year at Santa Margarita.
Palmer and the Eagles took on a very tough schedule
Carson Palmer and Santa Margarita played what was considered the toughest schedule in all of high school football this season. They played a whopping 10 opponents featured in MaxPreps’ rankings of the top 100 high school football teams in the country. They played 14 teams total. There was really never a break from taking on elite opponents for the Eagles.
As a part of that, they also took on the toughest postseason bracket in the entire country according to MaxPreps. They rose to the occasion and won a state title.
It feels like there are plenty of college football teams, including USC, that could learn from this. Iron sharpens iron; playing tough opponents makes you better. So could we stop with the cupcake schedules?
The Eagles improved as the season went on
On that note, because their schedule was so tough, the Eagles didn’t have a perfect season. They actually lost three games: their season opener to Mission Viejo, a game vs Bishop Gorman and a game vs Trinity league opponent St. John Bosco.
But guess what? Losing in the regular season doesn’t stop you from winning a state title. The Eagles kept getting better and won their last 6 games in a row to capture the state championship.
This speaks to Palmer’s culture and his ability to keep players levelheaded and focused on their end goals after a loss. Plenty of college teams, USC included, implode after big losses. We all remember the Trojans‘ 2023 collapse after losing to Notre Dame, and we won’t quickly forget embarrassing bowl losses to Tulane and TCU in 2022 and 2025 respectively.
Just like playing great teams can make you better, playing great teams and losing can make you better. They say failure is the best teacher. They also say you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. Or at least, Wayne Gretzky says that.
Is Palmer the high school version of Curt Cignetti?
But it’s not just the fact that Palmer led the Eagles to a national title or how the season went. It’s how quickly he turned the program around.
Palmer was hired ahead of this season. The Eagles were 5-7 last year and 1-4 in Trinity league play. They were ridden with horrible scandals and ranked 55th nationally. Essentially, the culture was as bad as it gets.
And Palmer turned them into state champions and a top 5 team in the country in one season. He is actually the first ever first year coach to win the MaxPreps National Coach of the Year award.
Does this make him high school football’s version of Curt Cignetti? You could even argue that what Palmer is doing is more impressive than Cignetti, because Palmer only has 1 year of previous coaching experience as a volunteer assistant with Santa Margarita in 2024. Indiana may be Cignetti’s first foray into Power 4 football but he does have decades of experience coaching football.
Obviously, Division I college football is a different beast than high school football, and I am not trying to start a real Cignetti vs Palmer debate. I’m just trying to put Palmer’s achievements into perspective; they’re very impressive!
If Palmer really is high school’s Cignetti, then colleges should come calling very soon trying to get him on their staff.
Would Palmer ever coach at USC?
I wonder if USC would ever be one of those schools trying to get Palmer to make the jump to the college level. Palmer is a Santa Margarita alum, which is a big reason why he returned to coaching there.
He also returned to help coach his son, Fletch, who is a quarterback in the class of 2028. Could USC give Fletch a scholarship and add Palmer to their staff in the same season?
It’s something to keep an eye out for, if another college doesn’t scoop Palmer up before then.
Trent Mosley, USC recruiting
But even if Palmer doesn’t have a coaching future at USC or anywhere else in college football, what he is doing is still relevant to USC’s recruiting efforts.
Santa Margarita’s star player is wide receiver Trent Mosley. Mosley, MaxPreps’ California Player of the Year, is a four-star recruit committed to USC next season. Under Palmer’s leadership, Mosley had 58 catches for 831 yards and 6 touchdowns this season in addition to 34 carries for 204 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground.
If Palmer and USC maintain a good relationship, it seems likely that Mosley is just the first in a line of many Santa Margarita stars who will commit to the Trojans.
It’s not just Mosley, either. Four star EDGE rusher Simote Kataonga and three star cornerback Jayden Crowder, also USC commits, played for Palmer this season.
Recruitng is about relationships, and USC has a big upper hand when it comes to recruiting any Santa Margarita stars.
So, the present is bright for USC legend Carson Palmer’s coaching career, and the future could be even brighter. In many cases, Trojan fans could really benefit. And in all cases, Trojan fans will be cheering him on.
Fight on, Carson Palmer!
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Former USC QB Carson Palmer wins MaxPreps National Coach of the Year
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