Helix football coach heads to college while Fallbrook’s resigns due to COVID mandates

Helix High head coach Robbie Owens is resigning after six seasons.

Robbie Owens leaves Highlanders for NAIA school in Florida; Troy Everhart departs North County school for Ohio

Jan. 24, 2022 3:24 PM PT

Robbie Owens, head football coach at Helix, one of the top high school programs in the county, and Troy Everhart, who led a football revival at Fallbrook, have resigned.

And for very different reasons.

Owens, 53-20 in six seasons at Helix, is leaving to take a job as defensive coordinator at Keiser University — an NAIA program in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Everhart, who isn’t vaccinated for COVID-19, stepped down “as a personal choice based upon the mandates that all educators in California will be facing next fall.”

He has been named head coach at Troy High in Ohio.

“My goal is to be a head coach at the college level,” said Owens, who came to Helix after eight seasons as head coach at Grand Junction High in Colorado.

“I got out of college coaching 15 years ago because I wanted head-coaching experience.

“Obviously, Helix is the pinnacle of high school coaching.

“I’ve had college offers before, but they weren’t right.”

This time, it was different. Keiser University was 9-4 last season, advancing to the NAIA quarterfinal playoffs. Ranked No. 11 in the nation, the Hawks are a member of the Sun Conference.

“The head coach at Keiser (Doug Rocha) is my best friend,” Owens said. “We played together. I’m 48, and if I want to be a head coach in college, I needed to make a move now.

“Obviously, moving to Florida is a huge move. It was hard to tell my Helix players I was leaving. There are a lot of good, young players here, so the tradition of winning will continue.”

Owens’ first day at Keiser is March 1. He hopes to help the new Helix coach with the transition before he leaves.

Owens’ Highlanders won a pair of San Diego Section Open Division championships as well as the Division I title last season.

In 2017, the Scotties reached the State Division 1-AA championship game, losing a 48-42 shootout to Folsom after beating Oaks Christian for the Southern California title.

Troy Everhart, pictured in his first season at Fallbrook High in 2019.

Fallbrook was 8-20 in three years under Everhart, but 8-10 the last two seasons, including 5-7 last year.

The once-proud Warriors were 35-138-2 in 15 seasons before Everhart took over and had just two winning seasons in that time.

“I’m not vaccinated, and I’m taking a stand,” Everhart said. “I loved coaching here, and Fallbrook is just following the law.

“Things may change in July, but if they don’t, I don’t want to leave the high school hanging.

“I was hired in July, and I know how tough the transition can be. So I did it now to give the school a chance to get someone in before the spring.”

Everhart has extensive high school coaching experience in Ohio as well as at Indiana, Cincinnati, Army and Ohio Northern on the college level.

Fallbrook returns running backs Marquise Washington and Chris Bausch, along with a young offensive line and quarterback Evan Thomas, who was a freshman last season.

“The program is headed in the right direction, and they’re doing it with Fallbrook kids,” Everhart said. “The quarterback is special, the junior and senior classes are really good. And the eighth-graders are good, too. The new guy is getting a program on the way up.

“I haven’t had a better experience in coaching.”

Damon Chase, athletic director at Helix, said he hopes to replace Owens “sooner rather than later.”

“Robbie’s leaving is bittersweet,” Chase said. “He was a great fit here, but you can’t fault a guy for chasing his dream. We’re losing a really good person, a person with passion. We’re scrambling a little bit, but we’ll be fine.”

Likewise, Patrick Walker, AD at Fallbrook, hopes to replace Everhart by February.

“We’re going to expedite things,” Walker said. “Troy’s leaving is a bummer, but he got us going in the right direction.

“Now we need to find the right person to replace him.”