Archbishop Murphy promotes DC to head coaching position
Published 1:30 am Tuesday, June 8, 2021
One of the area’s premier prep football programs will enter the upcoming season with a new leader.
Josh Jansen will take over head coaching duties for the Archbishop Murphy football team, the team announced on its Twitter account Tuesday.
“It is a great honor and privilege to be asked to lead the Archbishop Murphy football program in the future,” Jansen said in a statement released by the football team’s Twitter account. “I want to thank Coach (Mark) Leone for the impact he has had on both our school and our program, and I look forward to building on that foundation to continue molding and encouraging the servant leader of tomorrow through the medium that is this beautiful game of football.”
Jansen joined the program as a linebackers coach in 2014 and has been the team’s defensive coordinator since 2015.
He replaces Leone, who was named interim head coach before the 2019 season after the sudden departure of former coach Jerry Jensen. Leone went 10-6 in his two seasons, including a Class 2A state quarterfinal appearance in 2019.
Over the past six seasons, Jansen led a consistently stingy Wildcats defense that was key during their 2016 state-title run and semifinal runs in 2015 and 2017. Archbishop Murphy shut out 13 opponents and allowed just 8.2 points per game over 35 contests during the three-year span.
The Wildcats allowed just 14.5 points per game during the 2019 season, when they made a trip to the state quarterfinals.
Jansen is a 1997 Kamiak graduate. He spent one season as a preferred walk-on on the University of Washington football team before finishing his college career at Division-III Occidental College in Los Angeles.
He was a first-team All-Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference linebacker and third-team All-American his senior season.
The Montreal Alouettes selected Jansen in the third round of the 2002 Canadian Football League draft. He participated in Montreal’s training camp before retiring from football.
