Sehome’s new head football coach, Brian Young, will replace former coach Kevin Beason, who resigned in November 2022 after reports of hazing in his team surfaced early in the fall season. Young is well aware of that history as he enters his new role, and he hopes to inspire change.
The Mariners’ new head man grew up in Bowie, Maryland, played NCAA Division I football at Towson University. He tried out for multiple professional leagues including the NFL and Canadian Football League before enjoying a semi-pro career.
Young then embarked on a nine-year head coaching career at the semi-pro level in Bellingham. He joined Squalicum head coach Nick Lucey’s staff in 2013, spending the last five seasons as the defensive coordinator at Squalicum and serving in numerous assistant coaching roles for four seasons prior.
Young knows football, but how will his coaching philosophy help reset a Sehome program that has been dealing with the fallout of chronicled hazing incidents?
“The goal is to build a culture where players feel safe, they feel confident, they can grow, they can thrive in that,” Young said. “I know there’s some turmoil and some things like that, but some of the toughest situations have brought people the biggest success. I’m looking at these young men that have endured this whole thing. The guys that are left — they all want to play football in a great environment. They’re all committed to doing that.”
Young said the mentorship of young men and women is a key component of high school coaching.
He teaches business marketing and culinary arts at Squalicum, and that frequent interaction with the youth he coaches has taught him how to get the most out of those he leads.
“I’m a teacher, I talk to students every day,” Young said. “Building relationships is critical. I can’t just be a football coach that shows up, coaches football, goes home … When you make yourself approachable, you make yourself vulnerable, you are authentic with these kids, then you’ll be fascinated at how much you can bring out their character.”
Lucey said its difficult to get into one of Young’s classes at Squalicum because they’re in such high demand. While Lucey hates to lose Young, he is happy his friend has an opportunity to take the next step.
“[Young’s] got a lot of integrity, character and he brings so much energy to it,” Lucey said. “Kids love him. He’s just got a way with them. He’s a people-person first, and he’s been able to, throughout the years, make so many different connections with kids — kids just flock to him.”
Young originally interviewed for the Sehome head coaching job six years ago, but Beason was hired instead.
When Young joined Lucey’s Squalicum staff as an assistant coach, it was the first time he hadn’t called all the shots for a team, which, admittedly, was an adjustment. From then on, working back to a head coaching position was his No. 1 goal.
Young credited Lucey and Patrick Brown, Squalicum’s athletic director, with giving him his start in coaching prep football and preparing him for his new challenge.
“In a lot of ways, it is a huge compliment to Squalicum and what Squalicum has built,” Young said. “The tough part for me was I love the people I worked with at Squalicum. I loved the players, I loved the coaches.”
Aside from Young, Sehome will also have an entirely new assistant coaching staff. It was nothing against the previous coaches, he said, but Young wanted to assess the priorities and mindset of his future assistants.
It was important to him that they fully “hit the reset button,” Young said. He is confident he has the leadership tools, tenure and ability to evaluate potential candidates.
“One of the things that I stress — like when I bring in assistant coaches — I look at these guys and go, ‘Hey, you’re going to do more than just coach football,’” Young said. “A big part of high school football, and high school sports, is mentoring to young men and women.”
Young was selected as the Washington State Football Coaches Association District 1 Assistant Coach of the Year in 2021 and said he has pulled his techniques and philosophies from the many coaches he has played under during his career.
Sam Adams, a former First-Team All-Pro, Super Bowl-winning defensive tackle in the NFL from 1994–2007, was one of those people. Young played semi-pro football under Adams.
“Sam really taught me about the professionalism of [football], how to carry yourself professionally, how to look at things within not just the game, but within your behavior,” Young said. “It was really awesome to be able to play for all these guys, and just to make those pieces part of me and then spin them into what I wanted to do for my own teams.”
Resetting the culture isn’t just about Young as a coach, either. He is confident the current players in Sehome’s football program are ready to work and excited to be a part of building a positive culture.
“I’m really confident in this fact: These players are committed to being successful, not just on the field, [but] off the field,” Young said. “It is more important to me that these young men learn how to be great dads, and great brothers, and great husbands, and great employees. That’s really what high school football is about.”
