New coach eager to add his own touch to Legacy program

By Taylor Bern

Friday, Sept. 5, 2014 | 2 a.m.

For first-year Legacy High coach John Isola, the move from assistant to the top guy has been rather smooth away from the field.

Isola, formerly the coach at Western High and longtime Las Vegas area coordinator, joined the Legacy staff last year to help as a co-offensive coordinator. It gave him a chance to get familiar with the personnel before he eventually took over the program in June from Dave Snyder.

“Just getting to know the kids and being a part of the program helped the transition a lot,” said Isola, whose team opens the year at 7 tonight against Desert Hills of Utah.

On the field, though, there’s much work to be done as Isola begins his attempt to preserve Legacy’s tradition while adding his own touch.

Isola was brought in to help add some balance to the offense. While Legacy has always been good on the ground, Isola wants to add more pro-style and spread formations to keep defenses guessing.

“There’ll be some changes,” Isola said. “We’ll slowly integrate some things.”

Of course he doesn’t want to completely change everything, because overall, things are moving in the right direction at Legacy. The Longhorns took down Arbor View 7-0 in the regular season and two weeks later gave Bishop Gorman a fight, trailing by only four at halftime before losing by 13.

“There are no words to explain it,” senior receiver D’Angelo Lyndsey about the near-upset.

The season ended when Arbor View avenged that loss with a 40-0 payback. It was a bitter final note to an overall positive season that has set things up well for this year.

All-Sun preseason pick DeMichael Walker is back to lead the offense at running back after amassing 11 touchdowns and more than 1,000 rushing yards last year. And after a year as one of their coordinators, Isola is comfortable putting on the big headset and seeing what his version of the Longhorns can do.

“I don’t know if it will be the offense of old Legacy, but we’ll hold to our core,” Isola said. “Legacy’s always been a successful team that can run the ball first and foremost, and we’re not going to change that. We’re just going to expand off of it.”

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.