Carson Palmer is heading back to the gridiron.
Eric Sondheimer of the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday that the longtime NFL quarterback has been hired as the new head football coach at his alma mater, Santa Margarita High School in Southern California.
Palmer served as a volunteer coach on Santa Margarita’s freshman team last season while his son Fletch started at quarterback. Fletch Palmer will be a sophomore next fall.
The job at Santa Margarita opened up after former coach Anthony Rouzier was placed on administrative leave in October following a locker room incident. The school later fired Rouzier, while noting in a statement that the players’ “safety and well being” were never a concern during his tenure.
Palmer starred for Santa Margarita in the late 1990s, winning a pair of CIF Division V Southern Section championships in 1996 and ’97. He went on to play five seasons at USC, taking home the Heisman Trophy in 2002 before being selected No. 1 by the Cincinnati Bengals in ’03.
Across 14 NFL seasons, Palmer threw for 294 touchdowns and registered a career 87.9 passer rating for three teams—the Bengals, Oakland Raiders and Arizona Cardinals. He was named to the Cardinals’ Ring of Honor following his retirement in 2018.
