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Football

To contact the Palomar Football Office, phone (760) 744-1150, ext. 2479. Contact Head Coach Joe Early by CLICKING HERE or by phoning (760) 744-1150, ext. 2478. Contact Recruiting Coordinator Dan Early by CLICKING HERE or by phoning (760) 744-1150, ext. 2480. Contact Athletic Academic Advisor Steve White by CLICKING HERE or by phoning Coach White at (760) 744-1150, ext. 3052. Four-year college coaches wishing information on players should contact Placement Coordinators J.G. Aegerter at (760) 744-1150, ext. 2980 or Steve White. . Members of the Media and college Sports Information Directors should contact Sports Information Director Tom Saxe by CLICKING HERE or by phoning (760) 744-1150, ext. 2989.

2008 Coaching Staff

He immediately coached the 2002 Comets to a 10-1 record, the Mission Conference Central Division championship, the overall Mission title, a South County Bowl victory over Grossmont and a final No. 4 National ranking in his first season as head coach. In 2002, in his second year as head coach, Early guided a young team to an 8-3 record, a Mission Conference American Division co-championship and final No. 22 National ranking. The Comets' two regular-season losses came in overtime to two teams that lost only one regular-season game between them.

Early, who coached the 2006 Comets to a share of the Mission Conference American Division championship and the 2007 squad to a 7-3 record and final No. 25 National ranking, has a 34-19 record in six seasons as Palomar's head coach.

Before being named Palomar's head coach, Early was the Comets' successful defensive coordinator. Early also served stints as receivers coach and defensive backfield coach.

During the period Early and Craft coached together at Palomar, the Comets went 31-1 from the second game of the 1991 season through the 1993 season. Palomar won 73 of the last 89 games in the time the two coached on the same staff.

Early was an assistant coach for all three of Palomar's National title teams (1991, 1993, 1998) as well as the 1992 team that was ranked No. 6 in the Nation and the 2001 team that won the Southern California championship and was ranked No. 2 in California and No. 10 in the Nation.

Early, who was awarded a football scholarship to Long Beach State out of Palomar, received his Bachelors degree from San Diego State and his Masters from Azusa Pacific University. He's a fulltime health and physical education instructor at Palomar. He and his wife Julie live in Escondido with daughter Ashley and sons Andy and Austin.

Defensive Coordinator;

Defensive Line

J.G. Aegerter has proven track record as a winner both as a player and as a coach. At Laramie High School, Aegerter was a fullback and defensive end on back-to-back Wyoming Class AA State Championship teams in 1969 and 1970. He was outside linebacker coach at Montana State when the Bobcats won the NCAA Division I-AA National Championship in 1984. Aegerter was defensive line coach for Rancho Buena Vista High School's 1998 California Medium Schools Championship team.

At Palomar, he's been defensive line coach for the 1991 National Community College co-champions, defensive coordinator for the 1993 National champions and co-defensive coordinator for the 1998 National co-champions.

Aegerter is a 1978 graduate of the University of Wyoming and holds a Masters degree from Azusa Pacific University. He was a 1995 inductee to the Montana State University Hall of Fame.

He lives in San Marcos with his wife Karen, son Aaron (a freshman quarterback at Palomar) and daughters Austyn and Amanda.

Offensive Coordinator

Dan Early, the brother of Palomar head coach Joe Early, was an All-Mission Conference and All-State selection for the Comets as a sophomore strong safety in 1989.

He played on the first conference championship team and first bowl team in Palomar history, helping the Comets defeat Ventura, 21-20, in the Hall of Fame Bowl at San Diego's Balboa Stadium in December, 1989.

He was team captain at Long Beach State under the late NFL Hall of Fame coach George Allen. Early moved to tight end at Long Beach.

This is his 12th season at Palomar as an assistant. He serves as the Comets' offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator.

Early, who holds a Bachelor's degree from Long Beach State and a Master's from Azusa Pacific University, is a full-time health and physical education instructor at Palomar.

He resides in Carlsbad with his wife, Tami, and daughters Kati and Aubrey.

Offensive Line Coach;

Athletic Academic Advisor

Now in his 22nd season as Palomar's offensive line coach, Steve White prepped at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks and was an All-Metro Conference first-team selection at Los Angeles Valley Community College in 1978. He started at center for the University of Utah and was an All-Rocky Mountain selection for the Utes.

White began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Utah, then coached the offensive line at West Los Angeles Community College for two seasons before joining then-head coach Tom Craft's staff Palomar staff.

White also is a fulltime Athletic Academic Advisor at Palomar. He and his wife Leslie live in Bonsall.

After an outstanding prep career at Torrey Pines High School, Halda was a quarterback at San Diego State from 1976-1980. He was the only Aztec quarterback to beat both Florida State and Miami, and still appears on several SDSU Top 10 passing lists.

Halda holds a B.S. degree in Physical Education from San Diego State. He lives in San Marcos. He has two sons, Aaron, a former volleyball player at Palomar, and Nathan.

Quarterbacks

Cody Trefethen is in his second season as the Comets' quarterback coach after spending the 2006 season as receiver coach.

Trefethen played quarterback at Santa Rosa Junior College for two seasons, was a student assistant for the Bear Cubs for one season and was a graduate assistant at San Diego State, where he received both Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Kinesiology.

Trefethen was quarterbacks and receiver coach and, later, offensive coordinator at Scripps Ranch High School, was quarterback and receiver coach at University of San Diego High School and served a stint as quarterback coach and video coordinator at the University of Redlands. Trefethen came to Palomar in 2006 from Mt. San Jacinto College,  where he was offensive coordinator for two seasons.

He's currently an adjunct instructor in Palomar's physical education department.

Defensive Backs

He was a three-year starter at running back and defensive back at Ganesha High School in Pomona, where he was an All-San Gabriel Valley selection.

Taylor was an assistant coach at Westview High School during the 2004 season. He owns his own property management company.

Special Teams, Tight Ends

Linebackers

Sovacool recorded 118 tackles as a Palomar sophomore in 2002, was voted team captain, was an All-Mission Conference selection and J.C. Grid-Wire All-American honorable mention pick. He was named to the Grid-Wire Academic All-American first team.

Sovacool starred at linebacker on a CIF-San Diego Section Division I championship team at Fallbrook High School and was an All-CIF selection for the Warriors.

Sovacool is coordinator of Palomar's athletic study hall program.

He will be married this Fall and lives in Fallbrook.

Chuck Wilson

This is Chuck Wilson’s fourth season on Palomar's staff. He returned to his alma mater last Fall after coaching for 18 seasons at Rancho Buena Vista High School. He coaches the defensive tackles.

At RBV, Wilson served stints as varsity offensive line coach, varsity defensive line coach, JV head coach and JV defensive coordinator.

Wilson played at San Dieguito High School in Encinitas, red-shirted at San Diego State, then played at Palomar where he was an All-Mission Conference selection under coach Tom Craft . At Palomar, he earned a full scholarship to Southern Illinois University where he started for two seasons.

Wilson graduated from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill., in 1987 and holds a Masters Degree from Azusa Pacific University. He currently teaches in the Vista Unified School District.

Jake Dodderidge