Meridian hires its next football coach. He’s already revived one Idaho program
Kevin Hastin revived the Capital High football program, leading it to back-to-back playoff appearances. Now he’ll try his hand to rejuvenate another 6A Southern Idaho Conference program at Meridian.
The West Ada school board finalized Hastin as the Warriors’ next football coach Monday, tabbing the 45-year-old physical-education teacher to rebuild a program that made three straight state semifinal appearances as recently as 2023.
“I’ve rebuilt programs that were struggling,” Hastin said. “I don’t believe this is a situation where they are in a terrible spot. They just had a rough year, and there are good kids.”
Hastin replaces Christian McAlvain, who led the Warriors to a 2-7 campaign last fall. Neither McAlvain nor Meridian Athletic Director Nichole Williamson responded to requests for comment.
Hastin went 10-19 the past three years at Capital. He built the 6A classification’s second-best offense (37.7 ppg) and guided the Eagles to a 5-5 record last fall, their best record after three straight losing seasons.
He also previously led Newberg and Sherwood high schools to league titles in Oregon, and he spent five years as the head coach at Troy in Southern California.
He brings a career record of 72-59 (.550) to Meridian, which made the state semifinals or championship game every year from 2021 to 2023. But the Warriors struggled to a combined 5-13 mark and missed the playoffs the past two years as it cycled through three head coaches.
Hastin said that recent success, an on-campus stadium and the return of several assistant coaches from the Warriors’ recent glory days convinced him to make the move to Meridian.
“The boys at Capital were phenomenal young men,” Hastin said. “I was blessed to work with them. I feel like I left it better than I found it.”
Hastin also pointed to Meridian’s powerhouse wrestling program as a reason for optimism. He compared it to his time at Newberg, a Portland-area school known for its wrestling team. The school’s football program went from a doormat to a league champion in four years under Hastin.
“You see that spill over into other programs,” Hastin said of the wrestling program’s mentality. “I want to foster that. I want that to be our brand, being tough and outworking our opponents.”
This story was originally published January 14, 2026 at 12:35 PM.
