| Joe
Early, an All-Mission Conference selection as a
Comet and longtime assistant coach head coach Tom Craft's Palomar staff,
was named the Comets' 10th head football coach on
Dec. 18, 2001. 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.
|