For the second time since the 2024 high school football season ended, Fallbrook High School has a new coach.
The Warriors promoted John Hollcraft from assistant coach to head coach on Thursday. He replaces Jason Texler, who resigned two months after being hired to replace Ross Johnson.
The 45-year-old Hollcraft ran Fallbrook’s spring practices after Texler resigned.
Hollcraft has four years of coaching experience, all at Fallbrook, after working for years in the restaurant business. He was an assistant on Troy Everhart’s Fallbrook staff in 2021 and spent the 2022-24 seasons on Johnson’s staff, the last as assistant head coach working with the quarterbacks, running backs and defensive backs.
“This is going to be a challenge, but one I’m very much looking forward to,” Hollcraft said. “I was in the restaurant business for 20 years, the last 10 in management, then decided to switch to education four years ago. So this happened very quickly.”
Hollcraft has a degree in sports management from Southern New Hampshire University and a teaching credential from National University. He played junior-college football at Monterey Peninsula.
“I learned a lot under Troy Everhart and Ross Johnson,” Hollcraft said. “I’ve been able to keep a bulk of the coaching staff together, and we have a good young group of players returning. We had 12 freshmen or sophomores play on the varsity last season, so despite an 0-11 record, there is some talent and some experience. And we had a huge freshman class enroll, the largest since 2016.”
Johnson stepped down after three seasons to spend more time with his young family. He is now on the San Pasqual High School staff. Fallbrook replaced Johnson with Texler, who had been the head coach at El Cajon Valley, Escondido and San Marcos. But Texler resigned when an on-campus teaching position was slow to develop; he has since returned to San Marcos High School.
Hollcraft will teach part-time at Fallbrook, with hopes that a full-time position opens.
Hollcraft said the Warriors will run an up-tempo offense, throwing about 70% of the time.
“I like to go quick and put pressure on the defense,” Hollcraft said.
Defensively, the team will run a 3-3-5 scheme.
“We think John is ready to be a head coach,” Fallbrook athletic director Pat Walker said. “He has the temperament to be a leader. He’s mature. He connects with the kids, and the kids love him. Now we need to work on getting him help, quality .”
Fallbrook will participate in the Mt. Carmel ing Tournament in two weeks and open its 2025 season Aug. 22 against Escondido.
