Former NFL cornerback Orlando Scandrick is new football coach at St. Bernard

Playa del Rey St. Bernard High has hired former NFL cornerback Orlando Scandrick as its new football coach to take over a program that hasn't played any games since an abbreviated four-game spring schedule in 2021.

The program lost most of its varsity players after former coach Manuel Douglas resigned. Then came word of a federal investigation. The school hired Steve Broussard to take over the program in the summer of 2021 but didn't have enough players to have a team in the fall.

Now Scandrick, 35, has been hired to restart the program in his first head coaching job. He attended Los Alamitos and Boise State and has helped support local passing tournaments in recent years.

He was meeting parents and players for the first time on Thursday night.

"I'm really excited," Scandrick said.

His first task will be going around campus to seek out players. There were more than 20 interested in playing last fall.

"It's a very unique challenge and very intriguing opportunity I couldn't pass up," he said. "We can start to rebuild a program from the ground up."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.