What happened to Bellarmine football, and how can it be fixed?

SAN JOSE – When Antonio Garcia raced across Folsom’s blue turf for the winning touchdown in a 2015 regional title game, he added another chapter to a seemingly never-ending run of success for the Bellarmine College Prep football program.  

“Even as an adult, it’s fun to reminisce with the buddies I still have from that team,” Garcia, 26, said. “That’s something I will always remember about Bellarmine football.”

But less than a decade later, Garcia’s touchdown stands as the last elite-level football moment for the storied San Jose private school. 

An era in which the Bells contended annually in the powerful West Catholic Athletic League has slowly faded at the all-boys school of 1,600. 

Coaching changes, roster shifts within the league and struggles to adapt have resulted in a proud program teetering on the unthinkable: 

Its first 0-10 season. 

Bellarmine’s steep decline has left alums such as Garcia to wonder: How did it get this bad? And what can be done to fix it?

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Bellarmine opened as Santa Clara University Prep in 1851, the oldest Jesuit school in California. It has an alumni list that includes former mayors, NFL players, CEOs and Pulitzer prize winners.

The Bells have been a high school football power since World War II, creating a legacy of success continued from the 1980s into the 2010s by legendary coach Mike Janda. 

After taking over in 1984, Janda led the program to six Central Coast Section and 14 WCAL championships. His teams played in three state title games. In 2011, Bellarmine lost at national power De La Salle in double overtime.

At the time of his retirement in January 2020, Janda, who politely declined to comment for this story, had accumulated a section-record 286 wins. 

But the cracks in the foundation had already started to show in Janda’s final seasons. 

After going 13-2 in 2015, Janda’s Bells won just 16 games over the next four seasons. In his final season, Bellarmine finished 3-8.

Jalal Beauchman took over from Janda and navigated his alma mater through the pandemic and seemingly into a bright future.

Under Beauchman, who starred as a receiver for Janda in the mid-2000s, the Bells reached the semifinals in the CCS’s top division in 2021. A year later, they won the section’s Division II title and a 3-A regional championship after a 4-6 regular season.

“Less than two years ago, we were playing in a state championship game, right?” Bellarmine president Chris Meyercord said last week. “So it’s not like we’ve been on this long-term decline. In 2022, we were CCS and NorCal champs, and came within a couple points of being state champs.”

In March 2023, Beauchman abruptly resigned for reasons that still have not been made public. 

Bellarmine was left scrambling. 

Assistant coach Joe Gigantino, a 2012 Bellarmine graduate, guided the program through the offseason while the school underwent a coaching search that didn’t end until David Diaz-Infante was hired in June. 

Diaz-Infante graduated from Bellarmine in 1982 and won two Super Bowls as an offensive lineman with John Elway’s Denver Broncos in the late 1990s.

“It was a weird transition, because Dave wasn’t hired yet, and we were still trying to figure out what was going on,” Gigantino said. 

The new coaching staff inherited a team that, having already lagged behind programs such as Serra and St. Francis for a few years, was now being surpassed by modernizing programs such as Archbishop Riordan and fellow Jesuit school St. Ignatius.

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Alumni and those within the program pointed to one primary factor for Bellarmine’s struggle to keep up with the top teams in the WCAL: 

Tough admissions standards.

It’s no secret that Bellarmine primarily accepts only very high-achieving middle school students during its admissions process.

But how much have the school’s rigorous academic standards affected the football program as its competitors have gotten dramatically bigger and faster?

Would Bellarmine football improve if the school eased, even a little, the demands placed on applicants?

“I do think that Bellarmine has the tools to help B students and C students who are working hard and trying to turn them into A students,” Gigantino said. “I don’t think Bellarmine will change their academic standard to just let in any athlete, but I think they need to see the big picture.”

Meyercord was adamant that Bellarmine will maintain its standards but acknowledged that not every incoming student is the same.

There is flexibility, he said.

“We want to take a kid who maybe hasn’t had the best preparation coming in, and get that kid to the point where he’s going to be a really strong student and competing at a high level, both academically and athletically, by the time he’s graduating,” Meyercord said.

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During a home game last month against Serra at San Jose City College, the Bellarmine student section was sparsely populated.

Not so long ago, the bleachers would have been filled with students and spirit leaders for what once was a premier matchup.

On this night, the contingent was roughly 20, including several from the JV football team. 

As expected, there wasn’t much to cheer about.

Serra, whose ascent to the top of Northern California football coincided with Bellarmine’s decline, won 47-6.

Led by longtime coach Patrick Walsh, Serra outclassed the Bells from start to finish, but that didn’t stop Bellarmine from playing hard.

“This B on the helmet is definitely something you have to be proud of when you wear it,” senior receiver Brady Kirk said. “Our entire team feels this way, and that’s why we’ll never quit.”

Having seen Bellarmine at the peak of its powers, Walsh is rooting for the program to regain its footing.

“I’m hopeful that the administration at Bellarmine and all of the alumni don’t bail, because when the Bells are the Bells, it just makes the league that much better,” Walsh said. 

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When Diaz-Infante took the job a year and a half ago, he had little time to prepare for the upcoming season.

The Bells finished 2-8 that fall, and it has only gotten harder in Year 2.

A rash of injuries has depleted an already undermanned roster from 48 players to roughly 30, and the Bells have lost every game by at least 21 points. 

All that separates the team from a winless season – its first since an 0-6-1 finish in 1936 – is a game Friday night against Sacred Heart Cathedral at Kezar Stadium. Calpreps.com’s computer projects SHC to win 42-13.

Amid the choppy waters, Diaz-Infante said he feels a sense of pride in – and sorrow for – the seniors who will end their Bellarmine careers under such circumstances.

“I really want something positive for our seniors, because I feel bad that they haven’t had enough of that in their career here at Bellarmine,” Diaz-Infante said. “That seems foreign to me, and I don’t want to ever be comfortable and I don’t ever want this to be alright. I’m going to fight and do whatever it takes to get this thing turned around.”

Diaz-Infante said he is hopeful that the administration, including a second-year principal, will provide the support that the program needs for a turnaround.

Likewise, Diaz-Infante has backing from his bosses and alums.

“We’re all standing behind him to get us there,” Meyercord said.

Even with support, Diaz-Infante said a worst-to-first improvement is not going to happen overnight. But the coach is confident that with time, the Bells can get back to competing for WCAL championships. 

“No school has what we have to offer,” said Diaz-Infante, referring to the school’s rich history. “Bellarmine is still the best school there is, and we just need to get more guys in and support them and continue to build this thing.”