Taft football coach Jeff Kearin resigns in support of assistant principal

When Jeff Kearin was hired as football coach at Taft in 2021, the school had 27 players out for the team and was coming off a winless shortened COVID-19 season. The Toreadors also had no home field last season while waiting for a new all-weather field to be finished.

Now there’s more than 100 players out for the team, a new stadium will open this fall and Taft won a City Section Division III championship in 2021.

So why did Kearin announce on Thursday he was resigning just as the program was moving forward?

He said he resigned in support of assistant principal in charge of athletics Neezer McNab, who has been facing disciplinary action and possible demotion by the school’s principal, Daniel Steiner, for the way she told students to turn down music.

“She’s an amazing administrator,” said Kearin, a former head coach at Loyola who came to Taft after McNab’s recruitment.

McNab is a former president of the City Section Board of Managers and a current CIF representative from the City Section on the State Federated Council and a member of the CIF executive committee. Her husband is former Sherman Oaks Notre Dame football coach Joe McNab.

“She’s always there for all student-athletes,” City Section Commissioner Vicky Lagos said.

“This was not my plan,” Kearin said of his resignation.

McNab has been going through the appeals process within the Los Angeles Unified School District and continues to serve as the assistant principal pending outcome of her dispute. An LAUSD spokeswoman said all personnel matters are confidential.