Eastside boys soccer will begin a new chapter in 2024 with the announcement of Jabari Bennett as the team’s new head coach.

After coaching the Eagles’ JV team and serving as the varsity assistant coach for six years, Bennett is now the leading Eastside’s varsity squad.

The move was made over the offseason, as Bennett was promoted to take over for former head coach Anthony Williams, who coached the Eagles the past two seasons.

Though the announcement was a surprise to Bennett, he knows that it is time to hit the ground running.

“My initial reaction was, ‘Wow, OK. It’s serious now. It is time for me to step it up now,’” Bennett said. “I have been doing this job for many years. When coach Young first told me, I would not deny that I was pleasantly surprised. I was surprised and happy, but I do realize this is a step up from what I have been doing the past few years. It is a big move.”

Bennett’s soccer experience is deep, and so are his roots with Eastside.

Before he was a coach, Bennett played for the Eagles in high school before graduating in the class of 2014.

Following that, he spent time coaching at Covington Galaxy, which was nothing new for the Bennett family.

Bennett’s father, Brent was the first-ever coach of the Galaxy team while his brother, Jalen, served as a referee.

Following his time with the Covington Galaxy, Bennett took a paraprofessional job at Eastside.

That led to his former Eagles’ soccer coach and now athletic director, Champ Young, to ask him about coaching for his alma mater.

“Coach Young was like, ‘Hey man, how would you like to be my assistant coach?’ I ended up being his assistant coach for four years,” Bennett said. “When coach Williams got the head coach job, I was his assistant coach for two years. I have been coaching for a good eight years now.”

Due to his time as the JV boys soccer coach, Bennett shared how the transition will be smooth as he will be coaching players he is familiar with.

“It's going to be relatively smooth. I have known all of those boys for years now, [and] they know me,” Bennett said. “We have a good connection and we have a style of play we are going to try to do next season. I feel more than confident that these guys are ready to take up the challenge we will have next year. 

“We are in a new region and I feel good about our style and that we will do well next season.”

When it came to describing the style of his team, he spoke about a team that knows how to handle the ball and control the pace.

“Our team is a possession-based team,” Bennett said. “We can hold the ball really well [and] we can move the ball around really well. We know how to distribute, we know how to move the ball forward, move it back if necessary but also we know how to keep control of the game. That is the style of my team.”

The Eastside boys soccer team is filled with youth, with 16 of the 19 players projected to return.

In particular, the top five goal scorers from last year — Alexis Vieyra, Hudson Harris, Jonathan Gomze, Ben Weaver and Malachi Scharf — are all expected to return.

“The guys we have this year have the potential to go far,” Bennett said. “Not just in high school, but after as well. They have shown great determination these past couple years and getting us back into the playoffs was a big thing for us. They showed that they have the quality and mentality to go farther than we did last year. I think we have a tremendous squad. [They are] very young and I think that is a boost to this program.”

Another aspect of coaching JV and being an assistant coach that Bennett will take with him into his new role is how he organizes practice and development for each player in the program.

“The one thing I’ve learned especially as a JV coach is being able to learn from everything around you,” Bennett said. “I have learned a lot from coach Young, coach Williams and even my father, who coached me growing up. Each has their own playing style, but what I have noticed for a program to grow successfully, you want to have both the JV and varsity squads working on relatively the same thing. So when you have that young JV player who wants to come and play one day, he already knows the system that he is in, so there is no confusion on what I am looking for and what they need to do.”

With a new chapter of Eastside soccer on the horizon, Bennett shared who inspired him to become a coach in the first place.

“My dad, 100 percent,” Bennett said. “My dad has been my hero since I was a kid. He was my coach growing up as a kid, I would say he was a very good man. Coach Young is another one. He was my high school coach growing up and he was the guy who mentioned me as a JV coach. And even after he took on the AD job, I've always been able to ask him questions. I feel like both of those guys have shaped me to be the coach I am today.”