After 45 years as the head soccer coach at Jesuit High School Sacramento, Coach Paul Rose is retiring from coaching, leaving behind an incredible career that cements him as a titan of high school sports in California.

Coach Rose’s accolades speak for themselves: 37 league titles, 15 section titles, eight regional titles, and two national titles. Coach Rose retires with 918 wins, making him the winningest head coach in California boys high school soccer history, and the third winningest coach in the nation. With an exemplary win rate of 84% through 1170 games, Coach Rose’s track record of excellence earned him an induction into the California Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2011, becoming the first boys soccer coach to be given the honor. He has been inducted into the Sac-Joaquin Section Hall of Fame and Jesuit High School Hall of Fame as well.

Mr. Cameron Iwasa ’11 played for Coach Rose at Jesuit and went on to play for both Sacramento Republic FC and the MLS team Sporting Kansas City. In his two season stretch on the varsity team, the marauders maintained a historic 60-1-1 record. During that period of time, the team kept a winning mentality and approached each game with focus. 

“The expectation when you’re playing for Jesuit [and] for Coach Rose is you’re going to win every game that you play,” Mr. Iwasa said. “We were going to show up, we were going to take care of business, and we were going to move on and get ready for the next team.” 

That mindset has been perpetuated throughout the years. Last year, Coach Rose and the Soccer team took care of business when they took home the 2024 San-Joaquin section title in a 2-0 victory over C.K. McClatchy High School, capping off Coach Rose’s historic career with yet another section title.  

Coach Rose’s success may be memorialized with awards, honors, and statistics, but what Jack Cazneaux ’25 remembers most from last year’s section title experience is the way Coach Rose supported his athletes.  

“He was always there for us,” Jack said. “He gave us a lot of freedom and that just shows that he has trust in us, so that led us to be more confident in our gameplay.”  

Mr Iwasa agrees with Jack’s assessment – Rose’s legacy is not only that of a winner; it’s of a caring and compassionate mentor.

“The number one thing that lingers about Coach Rose is he was just a really, really good dude who genuinely cared about the well-being of his players, not just as soccer players, but as students, as people,” Mr. Iwasa said.

Coach Rose’s ability to get the best out of his players is one of the reasons he achieved such historic success over the years. Multiple Jesuit soccer players from many years attest to his ability to bring teams together towards a common goal, including Principal Dr. Michael Wood ’99, who played under Coach Rose as a senior.

“He was about engaging with student athletes and giving them a positive experience,” Dr. Wood said. “Winning was the byproduct of them playing hard for each other and playing hard for their school, and Coach Rose was able to shepard that throughout his many years of coaching.”  

Although the varsity soccer team is approaching its first season in 45 years without Mr. Rose at the helm, Jack and his teammates remain confident in the team’s ability to pick up right where they left off.  

“It’s definitely going to be a different experience,” Jack said. “But we got some strong [players] on the team and as a team, we know that we’re going to be alright.”  

Though Coach Rose will be leaving the Soccer team, he remains a prominent figure at Jesuit as the AP US History teacher and the department chair of social sciences. His consistent excellence in coaching and in the classroom exemplifies the very best of Jesuit High School.