Watsonville High didn’t have to look too far in its pursuit of a new head football coach for the upcoming 2026 fall season.
The school last week announced that Wildcatz’s baseball coach Tige McSwain will take over the football program just in time before spring practice. He replaces Manny Contreras, who was dismissed after two seasons at the helm.
McSwain said he will most likely step down as head baseball coach at the end of the 2026 spring campaign with hopes of having head assistant coach Max Gonzalez take over the program.
“When I took over baseball, I was all in,” McSwain said. “So now as a head coach taking on football, I need to be all in over there, too.”
McSwain, a teacher in the Applied Arts Department, was asked to consider filling in the vacant head coach position.
And being a credentialed teacher on campus, which is a requirement by Pajaro Valley Unified School District, was a major bonus for Watsonville Athletic Director Elaine Parker.
“[McSwain] brings stability, which is important to us,” Parker said. “His relationships with our athletes are very strong. He’s got a wealth of experience that takes him way back to Oregon.”
The 56-year-old Portland native attended Santa Clara University but he left once the football program was disbanded. He found his way to Cabrillo where he played football for two seasons and baseball for one.
McSwain has more than 25 years of experience coaching, including eight seasons (2012-19) as skipper of the Aloha High baseball team. He was an assistant coach on the football team that won an Oregon 6A State Championship in 2010.
McSwain was also an assistant coach at George Fox University in 2016-20 before he made the move back to Santa Cruz County in August 2021 to teach before taking the job as the baseball skipper for Watsonville.
He joined the Wildcatz’s football staff as an assistant coach for three seasons, and became offensive coordinator in 2023 when former athletic director Marcus Northcutt was head coach.
McSwain moved on with Gavilan College as defensive backs coach in 2024, and was on hiatus during the 2025 season.
He will now take over a Watsonville football team that finished with a 4-6 overall record, and placed fourth in the Pacific Coast Athletic League Mission Division standings with a 2-3 record in league play.
Apart from being a head coach on the sideline, Parker said that McSwain will continue to build a culture of working with student-athletes.
“[McSwain] very much believes in the student part first, and wants to make sure that our boys are being responsible and respectful,” Parker said. “And proud of both their time in the classroom and on the field.”
McSwain said his coaching philosophy is going to be built on trust, communication and accountability.
“It’s going to be the idea that we’re going to try to elevate our program. Both on the field and off the field, in the classroom,” McSwain said. “I want to be able to say we graduate 95 to 100 percent of our players on time and things of that nature.”
It’s not just graduating. McSwain wants to offer his players the opportunity to play at the next level whether it’s at Cabrillo College or at a school in Oregon where he still has contacts.
“I want to give back to the game that gave me so much and so forth,” McSwain said. “And this is a way to do it.”
