Saddleback varsity football coach Glenn Campbell resigns after two seasons

Glenn Campbell talks to his Saddleback players during a timeout in 2021. (File photo: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone).

After two seasons guiding the Saddleback High School football team, Glenn Campbell said Tuesday he has resigned as the head varsity coach of the Roadrunners to focus more on his full-time job in construction.

Saddleback was 5-15 in two seasons under Campbell, a former Roadrunner star who played for former Coach Jerry Witte from 1982 to 1985. He was a three-year starter and played running back and linebacker. The Roadrunners won two league titles and a CIF championship in 1985 while Campbell was there.

Campbell was hired at Saddleback in March of 2020, but the program did not field a team that year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

During the 2021 season, the Roadrunners jumped out to a 3-1 start for the first time since 2015 but finished 3-7. In 2022, the Roadrunners were 2-8.

Campbell has been a walk-on coach at Saddleback and his main income comes from a full-time construction job based in Lake Forest which takes him to different locations in Southern California, he said.

“The reason for it is due to work, and mentally being in a better place and not jeopardizing my livelihood, when it comes to the work load and being a head coach is a time commitment and restraint you need to do in order to make a program successful,” he said in an interview Tuesday with OC Sports Zone.

“I couldn’t keep that going, those two didn’t work in conjunction with being a head coach and being able to continually put in the time that is required in order to make a successful program.

“It wasn’t anything on Saddleback’s part, I’m actually upset I couldn’t continue there, I was welcomed there but it just wasn’t sustainable.”

Saddleback Athletic Director Rob Thompson praised Campbell’s contributions and said he hopes to have a replacement by the time spring football starts in two months.

“We appreciate all that Coach Campbell did for us here at the school,” Thompson said. “We accepted his resignation. Obviously, there are big shoes to fill. As an alumni, he came in with the attitude that he really cared a lot about the team and cared a lot about the school and I really think we might miss that, we might miss a coach who came home to make a difference, but it just didn’t work out.”

Campbell said he believes the future for the program is promising and he has high hopes for it. The new coach will guide a team that is scheduled to play home games in a new on-campus stadium.

“It’s a great group of kids, I think the two years and three years I was there they learned the game a lot more than what they did before I got there and I think the next head coach will be pleasantly surprised knowing the football acumen that they have,” he said.

“The class that they have coming back is poised to do great things and really change the program.”

Campbell said he still hopes to coach “in the near future,” but probably not as a head coach.

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com