Jason Stock is back at his old stomping grounds, and he has brought other Lancers with him.

The 1990 East Union graduate is now head coach of his alma mater’s football program and the third to take over the position in as many years. It’s his third stint coaching at East Union, previously serving as an assistant and coordinator at different levels under Mike James and Willie Herrera.

He replaces Booie Daniels, who was dismissed after guiding East Union to a 6-6 record and a playoff win in his lone season.

Stock was among East Union’s head coaching candidates going into last season. He wound up staying at Oakdale for another year and would have been content for being there even longer. He was there the past five years, teaching world history and economy while serving as running backs coach and junior varsity offensive coordinator.

“It’s just kind of surreal,” Stock said of his return to EU as head coach. “It was something that I thought was not going to happen, especially after not getting it last year. There were no hard feelings by me, I just figured I wasn’t going to get another shot. It just wasn’t the time for me, but I believe God has a plan for everybody and it just so happen to work out this time.

“I was confident in my ability to coach and knew I was ready at this point to be head coach — I’m in year 21 now. I just wasn’t sure that opportunity was going to come again. I was happy at Oakdale, and there wasn’t any reason for me to leave, other than to come back to my alma mater.”

This isn’t the first time he has come back home.

Stock was a member of one of East Union’s most accomplished teams, winning a Valley Oak League title and advancing to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II final in 1989. The fullback was named the league’s Offensive Player of the Year.

Stock earned an invitation to walk-on at Boise State and later returned to play at Delta Stockton, where he played as a defensive back. From there, he served four years in the Army from 1992-96 and began his tour of the VOL coaching ranks in 2005 with the James-led Lancers.

After four years at East Union, Stock went across town to join Manteca’s staff headed by Eric Reis, the winningest football coach in city history. He reunited with East Union in 2013, this time with Herrera in charge. Stock started out as defensive coordinator before calling the shots for the offense in his final two years.

Stock’s coaching career took a pit stop at Central Catholic during the 2020-21 COVID season. He coached outside linebackers and tight ends for Roger Canepa.

“Coaching under Reis, Canepa and (Trent) Merzon (at Oakdale) just prepared me to see how it’s done,” Stock said. “I’ve seen the process of what you have to do to get to those levels, so they were great role models.

“That goes for everybody I’ve coached under. Starting with Mike James and Willie Herrera, they’ve all had some sort of influence on me as a coach. Just like anybody else, you take pieces from each and every one of them and implement your own flavor to it.”

Stock has invited many familiar faces to come along for the ride.

Former three-sport standout TeeJay Gordon, a 2011 EU grad, is among the 23 coaches in Stock’s program. Gordon has been tasked with continuing the now-familiar spread offense at East Union. It was first implemented by Mike Kuhnlenz in 2021, and Daniels continued to run it but with his own twist last year.

Gordon starred at Modesto Junior College out of high school and went on to play at College of Idaho before competing professionally in arena league and overseas. He spent the past several years coaching in Germany.

Although Stock had been at Oakdale where the Wing-T is prominent, he did not want to completely revamp the offense at East Union with so little time to do so. He was hired in May and held just three spring practices.

“One of my big gets was TeeJay as offensive coordinator,” Stock said. “I’ve known him since he was a freshman at EU, and when I heard he was interested in helping out I came into contact with him.

“He comes from the same coaching tree (as Kuhnlenz and Daniels) under (MJC’s Rusty) Stivers, so it’s a smoother transition. Just like any head coach, I have my input, but I’m letting him run with it.

“He has plenty of experience and I trust him with the offense. It’s congruent to what the kids were already doing. Most of my coaches come from a spread background. If I put in the Wing, there would be a lot more teaching and the learning curve would be too steep.”

John Abrew, another East Union alumnus, is head coach of the JV squad after leading the freshmen last year. T.J. Salgado, Ted Anderson Sr., Jake Harries, Cameron Torres and Isaac Gutierrez are other Lancers who have returned as coaches. 

 “It’s a good thing they’re wanting to come back and help,” Stock said. “We have a lot of experience, as well as guys who are a little bit new to (coaching). I’ll have to coach up some of the coaches, but I brought them on board with the idea that at some point we can pass it along. It’s kind of what Manteca and Oakdale have done to have some sustained success.”

Jamal Campbell, a product of Lincoln in Stockton, is varsity defensive coordinator, and Gustavo Ruiz is freshman head coach.

East Union began its summer program this week and has had up to 117 players participate. The SJS Dead Period is from July 1-14, and first official practices may begin on July 29. The Lancers’ season kicks off with former VOL foe Kimball visiting on Aug. 22. That is followed by road games at Freedom (Oakley) and Johansen and a return to Dino Cunial Stadium for their non-league finale with Enochs. VOL play starts Sept. 19 at home against rival Sierra.

“We want to take it to the next step from where they got to last year,” Stock said. “There are a lot of seniors who have played a lot of football and had some success, so we just want to pick it up and continue that. We want to be a top-down program where from the lower levels up to varsity, everybody is doing the right thing, coaching the same thing and delivering the same message.”