Less than 10 months removed from his last NFL game, 32-year-old safety Dwight Lowery has returned to his alma mater to serve as head football coach at Soquel High.
Knights athletic director Stu Walters said Thursday that Lowery, a nine-year NFL veteran who was waived by the Los Angeles Chargers prior to last season, has replaced Brad Tompkins as coach.
For years, Lowery, an Aptos resident who grew up in Santa Cruz, was contemplating ways to give back to the community. He found it at the high school level.
“It’s going to be a challenge,” Lowery, a former All-American at San Jose State, said. “It’s not going to be easy in any way, shape or form, whether it was me or anyone else taking over. There’s a lot of work to be done. … Not to say that I’m not excited about being there. I get to help kids build their future through the game of football.”
Lowery, who is married and has two young daughters, said he’s relishing the opportunity to help provide direction for young men.
Said Walters, who coached Lowery in basketball at Soquel: “We’re excited. We’re bringing alumni back. And with his career and history, we think it’s going to be a pretty big thing.”
Lowery becomes the sixth coach for a program that last made the Central Coast Section playoffs in 2012, its lone postseason appearance over the past 10 seasons. The Knights went 4-6 last season and finished tied for fifth in the Mission Trail Athletic League’s lower Coastal Division.
Tompkins, a retired construction worker who led the Knights for four seasons, resigned abruptly two weeks ago and moved to Pine Springs, Arkansas. Before he departed, he brought Lowery aboard his coaching staff to serve as defensive coordinator.
“Things shifted,” Lowery said of Tompkins’ move. “It’s an influential position where I can positively make an impact for the community. I hopped on it. If it wasn’t my alma mater, I probably wouldn’t have done it.”
Lowery isn’t a complete stranger to the athletes in the Knights’ football program. He has supervised offseason lifting and has already generated excitement, several players said.
“He understands people,” said Anthony Carrillo, a junior two-way lineman. “He makes everyone work harder than they ever have. He’s making everyone feel good about themselves and is giving people hope.”
Anywhere from 12 to 20 students are working out with the team, Lowery said.
David Blanke, a junior tight end and linebacker, said he expects more students to come out for the program given Lowery’s level of experience.
“I’m excited,” Blanke said. “He’s an incredible guy. He definitely knows his way around the game of football. His general IQ is going to take this team very far.”
Lowery started all 16 games for the San Diego Chargers in 2016 but was waived by the team prior to the 2017 regular season, its first year at the StubHub Center in Carson. He registered 395 tackles and 17 interceptions in his NFL career, which also featured stints with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Atlanta Falcons and Indianapolis Colts after he was chosen by the New York Jets in the fourth round of the 2008 NFL Draft.
“He’s very intense,” Blanke said. “He wants us to succeed. Obviously, we have an incredible head coach. It could make a difference. I don’t know how much. It remains to be seen.”
Lowery built his reputation as a ballhawk at Soquel in 2002 and ’03, recording 20 interceptions in 20 games. He earned all-Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League honors both seasons and on both sides of the ball as a senior, when he played quarterback, running back, wide receiver, cornerback and safety in addition to handling kicking and kick-return duties.
Then-Knights coach Ron Myers, Watsonville High’s current head coach, predicted at the time that Lowery had a future playing on Sundays. That prediction played out.
Lowery continued to shine at Cabrillo College (13 picks in 15 games) and San Jose State, where he recorded a school-record nine interceptions as a junior in 2006 and four as a senior in ’07, when opposing quarterbacks tended to avoid passing to his side of the field.
Lowery said he decided he wanted to play in the NFL while at Soquel, noting his time spent with the program holds a special spot in his heart.
“I don’t want to understate how fired up I am about doing this,” Lowery said. “We’re going to work, but this should be a fun experience for the kids.”
Contact Jim Seimas at 831-706-3256.
