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When former Foothill High quarterback Sean Mannion was hired as the offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles last week, it raised some eyebrows.
I mean, he’s 33 years old, has all of two years of coaching experience, and as recently as 2023 was still a player in the NFL.
But for those of us around Pleasanton, it wasn’t shocking at all. If anyone with as little experience was going to be hired for such a position, it was Mannion.
If you know Sean, you know he was destined for coaching. His dad John was a longtime member of the Foothill staff, both as an assistant for Matt Sweeney, then the head coach for Foothill.
In a story I wrote early on about Mannion I remember saying, “good things happen to good people” – and Sean Mannion is at the top of that list.
After leaving Foothill, John moved on to a successful career as a high school coach in Oregon.
John coached Sean at Foothill, where he was a three-year quarterback for the Falcons. Having spoken with him many times, it was amazing how he had such a mature grasp of the game at such an early age.
One of the more amazing games I witnessed was his senior year in a North Coast Section game against James Logan where Foothill won 59-37 and Mannion had over 600 yards passing.
When he got to Oregon State, he excelled and ended up being the all-time Pac-12 passing leader with 13,600 yards. He is now No. 2 behind Luke Falk of Washington State, who finished with 14,486 yards.
Mannion’s numbers were better than quarterbacks like Matt Barkley, Carson Palmer, Jared Goff, Derek Anderson and Marcus Mariota.
He was drafted in the third round of the 2015 NFL draft by the then-St. Louis Rams and went to the Super Bowl with the Rams in 2018.
He also played for the Minnesota Vikings and Seattle Seahawks. He retired from the NFL in February of 2024 and went to work for the Green Bay Packers where he spent one year as an offensive assistant and one year as quarterbacks coach before making the big jump to the Eagles.
I will be talking with Sean in the next couple of weeks and an in-depth story on him will be following, but I didn’t want to wait for a couple of weeks to get my thoughts out.
A big congratulations to the entire Mannion family!
Amador boys’ soccer
After dropping a 3-0 decision to top-ranked Monte Vista on Jan. 27, the varsity Dons showed their grit with a 3-2 victory over Dougherty Valley.
The offensive effort was led by goals from Atishay Sati, Matteo Eichler and Jio Lee. Diogo Tempero provided a key assist, while Nader Hanna earned Player of the Game honors for his standout performance.
The junior varsity squad swept their schedule last week, highlighted by a thrilling last-minute 2-1 win over Monte Vista.
A counterattack in the final moments sealed the game, with goals from Oliver Heid and Mathias Tempero. Assists were credited to Kingston Smith and Eli Yeh, while Harry Brown took Player of the Game honors.
The momentum carried into their matchup against Dougherty Valley, where the Dons secured a 2-0 shutout. Tempero and D. Perez Gallegos found the net, supported by assists from Smith and Heid. Yeh was named Player of the Game for his relentless distribution in the midfield.
The freshmen continued their winning streak with a strong performance at home against Monte Vista, winning 3-1.
They followed that Friday beating Dougherty Valley 4-0 in their last home game of the season. Simon Hilton and Calvin Sharma both scored three goals over the two games, while Emiliano Quintanilla, Aariv Shah and Samuel Prunty played great on defense.
Amador girls’ soccer
After pulling out a 1-0 win over Monte Vista to start the week, the Dons racked up a big 5-0 win over Dougherty Valley to end the week.
Mia Harris scored twice for the Dons, getting assists from Addison Stout and Mia Garuda.
Stout had an unassisted goal, and Kaylee Walker drilled one home from 35 yards out. Leena Khan scored the other goal for the Dons, taking a pass from Hailey Couper and putting it away.
Amador boys’ basketball
The Dons opened the week with a 63-56 win over Monte Vista, getting 26 points from Jaylen Smith. Cade Krueger added 14 points and Elijah Stanley scored 12 points.
Later in the week in a huge game, Dougherty Valley hit a game-winner in the closing seconds and pulled off a 59-56 win.
Smith had 19 to top the scoring for Amador, with Dante Ventura scoring 13 and Krueger and Stanley had 11 points each.
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. To contact him about his Pleasanton Preps column, email acesmag@aol.com.
