Quincey Davidson Jr. will be the new Kentwood High School football coach after Matt Roth stepped down.

“I am just very excited for this opportunity,” Davidson said. “I am excited to get this thing turned around and get our community back at French Field and get things going again.”

Davidson had been the defensive coordinator under Roth for the past two seasons. An alum back in 2012, Kentwood is special to Davidson.

As a former Conk, he’s been in the shoes of his current players. After leaving Kentridge High, he sought refuge in the halls of Kentwood and has been forever grateful.

“(Being head coach) is something I never imagined, but I always new this place was special to me,” Davidson said. “I started high school at Kentridge and went through trials and tribulations and needed a reset. After being at Kentwood it was a place that always stood out to me.”

His football journey took him to Colorado, where he played at Adams State University in Alamosa.

From there he joined the staff at Alamosa High School and then came back home and was on the Kentlake High football staff. He was the defensive coordinator and special teams coach before being named an interim head coach at Kentlake. He has been on the Kentwood staff for the past two years.

Kentwood has been in a difficult spot the last three seasons, as a 5-5 record in 2024 is the best it has done over that span.

“It’s been tough because the foundation hasn’t been correctly laid down,” Davidson said. “We have been focused on X’s and O’s and stuff like that, but that only takes you so far. But what makes Kentwood special is a tradition of creating young men of character.

“It’s about putting them in a position to be ready for the world after football has left them. When you create men of character, you are now putting them in a place where they can be successful in all phases of life.”

Defense is going to be a strong point and a big focus for Kentwood. Davidson is continuing the ‘959’ mantra that Roth had for the Conks. Their focus is having nine players within 5 yards of the ball 90% of the time. If they can accomplish that one the defensive side of the ball, in Davidson’s eyes they will be successful.

“We will swarm the football, we are going to get 11 hats to the football. When we do that, we are going to be a very good team,” Davidson said.

Kentwood is in a tough 4A North Puget Sound League (NPSL). Auburn, Stadium, Auburn Riverside and the ever-dangerous Kennedy Catholic make life tough for the Conks. On top of that, Antione Lee, one of the best players in Kentwood history, is now at Central Washington University in Ellensburg.

But a bright spot of the offense is Brandon Tagle who will be in his second year at quarterback. Davidson thinks with Tagle leading the offense they can have success, especially because of one specific play from last season.

“One thing I saw from that kid was dedication to win. Dedication to put himself on the line,” Davidson said.

To defeat Auburn, Tagle ran a quarterback keeper and scored the winning two-point conversion as he dove through defenders.

“Everybody in the stadium knew the ball was going to be handed off to Lee. But our quarterback stepped up and said ‘I can do it’…That kind of tells you about that young man,” Davidson said.

Davidson also has other coaching duties. He is an assistant coach on Jordan Nero’s staff on the girls basketball team at Kentwood, which is fighting for a playoff spot.

Photo of Quincey Davidson Jr. Photo provided by Robby Mullikin.