Justin Alumbaugh (‘98) enters his 13th season as the Spartans football head coach and his 28th year of coaching overall.
Alumbaugh and the Spartans have won the top division in the North Coast Section championships every year during his tenure from 2013-2024 with the lone exception being the 2020 fall season when there was no NCS postseason. The great success has led Alumbaugh to an impressive 136-20 career record (.872) and recognition as the SportStars Northern California Coach of the Year last year.
Last season, the Spartans had one of its best years with a 12-1 record that included a NCS Open Division championship and recognition as the top team in Northern California before falling to the #1 team in the country, Mater Dei, in the CIF Open Division state championship game.
The Spartans, who outscored the opposition in their 12 wins by a 360-140 count, completed a memorable year that included some milestone wins. De La Salle was the first California high school football team to ever play a game in Europe with a 31-9 victory over the NFL Academy. Additionally, the resume included a 42-7 victory over St. Francis who was the best team in the Central Coast Section, a 42-14 win over Grant-Sacramento who was the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II champions, a 39-10 win over Serra-San Mateo, a thrilling 38-35 victory at St. Mary’s in Stockton, and a memorable 10-7 rainy night win at Diablo Valley College versus Pittsburg to secure the program’s 33rd consecutive NCS championship.
The Class of 2025 was a special group of Spartans and includes the following who will compete in college this season: Matthew Johnson (Oregon), DJ Asiasi (Nevada), Derrick Blanche (Portland State), Toa Fa’avae (New Mexico), Dominic Kelley (Nevada), Ace Robinson (UNLV), and Niko Baumgartner (Fresno State).
As a former Spartans player, Coach Alumbaugh is proud to call legendary coach Bob Ladouceur his mentor and played for Coach Lad as a 1997 all-state selection on offense and defense while leading the Spartans to a national record win streak. (The streak was at 73 wins when Alumbaugh graduated and spread to a record 151 games.) In addition to football, Alumbaugh was also an all-state baseball player and led the Spartans to back-to-back NCS championships in 1997 and 1998. For his efforts on and off the field, Alumbaugh was inducted into the De La Salle Hall of Fame in 2019.
Alumbaugh was so committed to the De La Salle football program that he would coach during his summer breaks at UCLA. Alumbaugh played both baseball and rugby for the Bruins while graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and he holds a Masters degree in History from San Francisco State.
Alumbaugh is a De La Salle social studies teacher and is married to wife Teresita and they have three young children, Benicio, Isla, and Isabel.
