Why Salesian football is ‘sneaky good’ at a school mostly known for basketball
By Mitch Stephens, San Francisco Chronicle
In 1995, Chad Nightingale was offered the head football coaching job at Salesian-Richmond. He turned it down.
“I didn’t think I had enough experience,” Nightingale said. “The JV coach Ernie Anderson did and I felt he should be the head coach.”
After one season it was apparent Nightingale, a former Cal wide receiver with a square jaw, a strong back and a deep conviction for kids and the game, was experienced and qualified enough.
Nightingale took over the varsity head duties in 1996, Anderson moved back to JVs and the Pride, then the Chieftains, have been rolling ever since as one of the top small-school programs in the state.
In his 29th season, one of the longest tenured coaches in Northern California has Salesian, with just 24 players in a school with an enrollment of 425, off to another stellar start at 5-0 heading into Saturday’s Tri-County Athletic League Rock Division opener against Vallejo.
Although his voice is loud, clear and unmistakable, Nightingale has never drawn attention to himself or his team’s success. The records, academically and on the field, speak for themselves.
Since 2005, the Pride have won 15 league, seven North Coast Section, two Northern California and two state titles (2019 and 2021). Nightingale’s record is 232-99-3.
And while Salesian is largely regarded as a basketball school — both the boys and girls teams have won multiple state crowns — the football program has quietly excelled.
“Our football program is sneaky good,” Nightingale said.
Salesian’s boys basketball team, under longtime coach Bill Mellis, won state Division IV titles in 2009 and 2012, elevating them to the Open and Division I levels over the last decade, thanks to competitive equity models. Last season, the Pride won the NorCal Open Division crown before losing in the state finals in the closing seconds.
Nightingale doesn’t harbor a hint of resentment toward the Pride’s hoop success because he’s also the school’s athletic director and because Mellis is one of his best friends.
“First and foremost I am extremely proud of everything the basketball teams, both on the boys and girls side, accomplish,” Nightingale said. “I’m proud of all our team successes.”
Nightingale’s first hire as athletic director in 1997 was indeed Mellis, who with 641 wins is Northern California’s winningest active coach.
“You hear horror stories of basketball and football coaches not getting along, but with Coach Nightingale and me, it’s the exact opposite,” Mellis said. “He has set the standard of what a great AD is. He knows all the rules, has complete support of all his coaches and is meticulous about all the details of his job.
“It is the same attention that makes him as good of a coach that there is in high school football.”
He’s had some special athletes, including Jahvid Best and Freddie Tagaloa, who reached the NFL. “But we’ve won a lot of football games without D-I kids,” Nightingale said.
He’s got a couple of them currently in senior offensive lineman Delon Craft (6-foot-6, 285 pounds), a San Diego State commit, and junior receiver and cornerback Carlton Perrilliat (6-4, 190), who is also a starter on Mellis’ basketball team.
Perrilliat has 30 catches for 511 yards and eight touchdowns. He and fellow junior Joseph Tarin (18, 285, 4) make up a dynamic receiving duo for senior quarterback Marcus Burke, who has passed for 903 yards, rushed for 260 and accounted for 19 TDs.
“Marcus has quietly put together a very good year,” Nightingale said. “It helps to have that tandem to throw to, but he knows the offense and has been very productive.”
Of Perrilliat, Nightingale said: “He’s one of the top five talents I’ve ever coached. He absolutely dominated the two toughest games we were involved in.”
With such a short roster, Nightingale said he’s most proud of the Pride’s “preparedness and willingness to play multiple positions for the good of the team.”
With all his wins and championships, Nightingale says what may be most satisfying is the program’s coaching staff — nine of 10 are Salesian graduates who played for him.
“Not in a million years did I think I’d still be the coach 29 years later,” Nightingale said. “But I think our one game at a time, one year at a time approach has worked. We just keep plugging along.”
SBLive senior editor Mitch Stephens covers high school sports for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: mitch@scorebooklive.com