The Beverly Hills High School (BHHS) varsity football team kicked off the 2024 season with a win and a new team of coaches. The team beat Vasquez High School in the home opener game on Aug. 30 with a score of 26-21. Following a tough few seasons, the team shared their first victory with new head coach, Hasan Muhammad, and his coaching staff from Windward High School.
The BHHS Normans beat Vasquez High School after scoring two major touchdowns— a huge win for a team that has had a few rough seasons, as Athletic Director Tim Ellis explained to the Courier. “A couple years ago we were losing games— it was 55 to nothing in the middle of the second quarter— and so we needed to find schools of the same caliber that were also struggling,” he said. But that all turned around at the last game.
To secure the victory against the Vasquez Mustangs, freshman Rocco Taylor scored a touchdown after a 55-yard punt return. He later scored a touchdown after a 90-yard kickoff return that put them in the lead at 26 points and although they missed the extra point, they beat the Mustangs in their first game of the season.
Ellis credits a large part of this win to the new head coach’s leadership and his ability to earn the team’s trust so early on. Muhammad joins BHHS after spending 13 years at Windward High School in West Covina. When their football program was shut down, he knew he wasn’t ready to quit, so he decided to return home to Beverly Hills where his son attends Beverly Vista Middle School. As a coach and a father, Muhammad knows the importance of leaving a positive impact on his team. “When I look for a coach, I look for somebody who’s good for kids,” said Ellis. “When the kid goes home at night and they’re talking at the dinner table about what happened during the day, I want that talk to be positive [about] the coaches that are in front of our kids.”
Aside from his many years of experience, Muhammad also brings with him his whole team of coaches. This was a blessing for BHHS, as Ellis explained, because it has been difficult to secure a long-term football staff in the seven years since he became the athletic director. Last year, the head coach stepped down at the last minute, leaving Ellis to take his place and essentially work two jobs at the same time. But he believes that this new team of coaches is here to stay.
As BHHS rebuilds its football program, Ellis was happy to confirm that there are nearly 40 students on this year’s roster, with 17 freshmen. He looks forward to a new beginning with Muhammad and to watching him establish the new program in the coming months.
“I believe in what the football program can do for a school,” said Ellis. “Just the whole ‘Friday Night Lights’ thing and the fact that by having a solid football program, it sets a tone for the year for the school, in terms of spirit and all the things that go with it on the high school campus. And I think he’s the guy.”
