APTOS — Cabrillo College football head coach Justin Hansen has begun a formal family medical leave of absence, the school announced in a release.
Hansen is expected to be away from his coaching duties through the end of the spring 2026 semester. The duration of his leave will be evaluated as the year progresses, and there’s a possibility it will extend into and through the ’26 season.
“We hope to have him back when the time is right,” Seahawks Athletics Director Mark Ramsey said. “But, for now, we’re totally supportive of him putting his family first. And, we’re behind him.”
Ramsey declined to give specifics of the situation. Whatever it is, it was going on over the course of the ’25 season, one football player said, noting that Hansen told the team that he was dealing with some stuff away from the field on multiple occasions.
Hansen and his wife, Emily, have a young daughter, Evie.
Multiple attempts to reach Hansen were unsuccessful.
“Right now, our focus is on the guys we have here and the recruits we’ve been talking to,” Ramsey said. “Really, we want all of the local high school players to continue to come here and play for their hometown fans, and just help build Seahawk football. We have a great group of guys at the reigns and doing great things.”
Cabrillo’s current assistant coaches will collectively step up to manage the program’s operations during Hansen’s absence. The staff includes Anthony Valdivia, John Stow, Anthony Romero, Derek Cahill, Ismansjah (Smo) Soekardi, Ray Myers, and Stephen Warren.
They’ll continue to focus on student-athlete development in and out of the classroom, recruiting, and spring training, Ramsey said.
“We have very competent, qualified and excellent assistant coaches that are going to run the program in his absence,” he said. “They’ve all been here a long time and worked closely with coach Hansen and the players. They’re connected to the players.”
An interim coach is expected to be named from the existing staff in the coming weeks.
The program currently has 30 players, and expects more once it welcomes its dual-enrollment students after spring break.
Hansen, a former Seahawks and assistant was hired as head coach to resurrect the Seahawks from the death penalty in 2021. He took over the program following a two-year suspension for a rules infraction. He has posted a 13-27 record in four seasons at the helm.
His inexperienced, freshmen-loaded first team featured just two sophomores in 2022 and went 2-8.
His most recent squad featured 47 players on its roster, including 29 from Santa Cruz County. After injuries, ineligibilities, and the departures of a few out-of-state players, the team finished the year with less than 30 healthy players.
The Seahawks went 2-8 last season, 1-4 in the Golden Coast Conference, and endured three of their worst losses in program history: 76-29 at Los Medanos (10-1) on Sept. 20, 83-7 at Feather River (10-1) on Sept. 27, and 99-3 at De Anza (10-1) in its regular-season finale on Nov. 8.
In the loss to De Anza, the Seahawks were without injured starting quarterback Mario Cosma, leading rusher Caron Madison, who was also injured and left the program, among others.
More than a half dozen Seahawks fans and alumni reached out to the Sentinel and voiced their displeasure with the blowouts after the final game, and suggested that a change in the coaching staff was in order.
News of Hansen’s medical leave of absence has caused a plethora of speculation.
A post on Cabrillo football’s X.com, run by an unnamed football assistant, didn’t help. It wished Hansen and his family well during their difficult time, but also gave the impression that he was permanently done with the program.
“It has nothing to do with the season we’ve had,” Ramsey said. “He has some extremely unfortunate circumstances that he’s working through. We’re family first and he needs to put his family first. That is the bottom line. … He’s doing what’s right as a man and person.
“It had nothing to do with the season. Plus, that’s just not who he is. He’s a grinder, he’s a football coach to the core. He shook those (losses) off was ready to get back to work, all the time. … People might say that, but they’re 100 percent wrong. He’s a great football coach, a great person, and just loves Cabrillo.”