{"id":844844,"date":"2026-03-31T12:36:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T12:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/844844\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T12:36:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T12:36:22","slug":"from-usc-glory-to-3a-tacoma-football-meet-bellarmine-preps-new-football-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/844844\/","title":{"rendered":"From USC glory to 3A Tacoma football. Meet Bellarmine Prep\u2019s new football coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bellarmine Prep\u2019s new football coach knows a thing or two about winning.<\/p>\n

Hershel Dennis, who coached the past four seasons at Class 1A Life Christian in Tacoma, is the new coach of the Lions. Dennis was part of Pete Carroll\u2019s national championship USC teams in the early 2000s and left as college football\u2019s all-time winningest athlete, with a 70-8 record.<\/p>\n

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Before that, he was an All-American running back at Long Beach Polytechnic High School, amassing 3,846 yards and 56 touchdowns in his junior and senior seasons.<\/p>\n

At USC, Dennis was part of a stacked roster and running back room, with players like Heisman trophy winner Reggie Bush. He was part of USC\u2019s national title teams in 2003 and 2004. His best season came in 2003, his sophomore season, but multiple knee injuries derailed his career in his later college seasons.<\/p>\n

He turned Life Christian into a contender in short order, coaching the Eagles to the 1A state tournament in each of the past three seasons.<\/p>\n

Now he\u2019s headed down the road, onto a newer and bigger challenge at Class 3A Bellarmine Prep.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m blessed,\u201d Dennis told The News Tribune by phone on Monday. \u201cThe four years that I\u2019ve been here at LCA, my staff was growing, the players were maturing. Everyone was just ready for a new challenge, I believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Hershel<\/p>\n

Hershel Dennis, pictured here at a 2023 football practice at Class 1A Life Christian Academy in Tacoma, has been named the new head football coach at Class 3A Bellarmine Preparatory School in Tacoma ahead of the 2026-27 school year.<\/p>\n

Dennis replaces Brian Jensen, who stepped down after 11 years as the program\u2019s head coach and 22 years on the staff.<\/p>\n

Dennis said the winning formula at Life Christian is something he feels he can carry over to Bellarmine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a hard recipe,\u201d he said. \u201cBeing connected to the community, getting some ball players. Get the players and coach them up. God blessed me with some families (at LCA) who valued the private school environment, and we had enough numbers to be competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In a statement, Bellarmine Prep said it\u2019s \u201cexcited\u201d to welcome Dennis to campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoach Dennis brings a proven track record of building successful programs, along with a deep commitment to character, academic achievement, and the development of young men,\u201d it says. \u201cHis belief in using football as a vehicle for leadership and personal growth aligns strongly with our mission. We are confident he will have a meaningful impact on our student athletes and our school community.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Dennis enjoyed plenty of success at Life Christian, he said there were a few limitations, from playing in the 1A classification to facilities. The school has a practice field that\u2019s about half the size of a regulation football field.<\/p>\n

Practicing on 100 yards will be a joy, Dennis said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThat\u2019s probably No. 1, to be honest,\u201d Dennis said, laughing. \u201cWe were limited with a lot of stuff, but we didn\u2019t complain about it, we didn\u2019t cry about it, we were grateful. We had a mindset of, it doesn\u2019t matter if we have 25 players and a 50-foot field, we\u2019re gonna show up and get the work done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Hershel<\/p>\n

Hershel Dennis, pictured here at a 2023 football practice at Class 1A Life Christian Academy in Tacoma, has been named the new head football coach at Class 3A Bellarmine Preparatory School in Tacoma ahead of the 2026-27 school year.<\/p>\n

Dennis said he\u2019s most excited about some of the matchups on the horizon, particularly the Tacoma rivalries. While the 1A Nisqually league was improving and had solid local competition with Puyallup\u2019s Cascade Christian and Tacoma\u2019s Annie Wright, the 3A Puget Sound League is home to Mount Tahoma, Lincoln, Lakes, Gig Harbor, Peninsula and others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose were the matchups I was trying to line up while I was (at LCA),\u201d Dennis said. \u201cThat\u2019s what gets us better as players, coaches, staff. That\u2019s one of the biggest things I\u2019m really excited about. Key matchups in the city, having the opportunity to build a team, hopefully get to the state tournament and play Eastside Catholic, O\u2019Dea and those teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dennis said he\u2019s felt the love already from the Bellarmine community and was approached and congratulated over the weekend by people he hadn\u2019t met before.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see how important it is, how much support is behind the program,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a place where everything is in order, everything is in place for you to be successful. I just want to add my flavor, be who I am and build off the rich tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the statement, Bellarmine thanked former coach Brian Jensen.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder his leadership, the Bellarmine Lions earned multiple league titles and numerous playoff appearances,\u201d the statement continued. \u201cThese accomplishments reflect not only competitive excellence, but also the discipline, teamwork, and perseverance that embody the spirit of the program\u2019s motto, \u2018More Than Winning.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bellarmine Prep\u2019s new football coach knows a thing or two about winning. Hershel Dennis, who coached the past…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":844845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[115924,108570,115920,115922,115921,7,7504,115919,115923,616,101979,9653],"class_list":{"0":"post-844844","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-ball-players","9":"tag-bellarmine","10":"tag-bellarmine-prep","11":"tag-brian-jensen","12":"tag-coach-dennis","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-football-coach","15":"tag-hershel-dennis","16":"tag-long-beach-polytechnic-high-school","17":"tag-reggie-bush","18":"tag-tacoma","19":"tag-usc"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/844845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}