With more than 15 years of coaching experience, Nicholas Kendall believes his time is now to take the lead.

In February, River Islands High announced the hiring of the Oakland native as its new head football coach. The Riptide went 6-13 in its first two varsity seasons with Nick Hardenbrook in charge.

While enticed by the opportunity to mold a fledgling program, Kendall believes the pieces are already in place to compete with the Mother Lode League heavyweights right away. The ultimate goal is to sustain success, and to do that, he strives to help keep products of River Islands Academies schools close to home.

“It’s brand new — I get a chance to help the high school build a program,” he said. “Once everybody buys in, we want to turn more into a destination. There are kids living in River Islands but going to other schools in Manteca or Stockton and Tracy. We want to keep them here.”

Kendall graduated from Oakland Tech in 2007, attended Fresno State and graduated from Fresno Pacific. He began coaching in 2010, eventually landing jobs with high school programs in the Central Valley starting with McLane in Fresno, serving as defensive coordinator. Then at Clovis West, he coached at all three levels including as JV head coach and varsity assistant.

Now a Modesto resident, Kendall has been coaching in the area for the last five years. He joined Lincoln in Stockton as JV offensive coordinator, moved on to Modesto Christian as defensive coordinator and was offensive coordinator for Kimball’s varsity last year.

Much of his staff at River Islands remains from the previous regime. Grantt Franco is back as JV coach. Trey Moorhead and Romelle Terry still lead the offensive and defensive lines, respectively, and Sam Hughes returns after helping out in the Riptide’s inaugural varsity campaign.

Joining Kendall as a newcomer is former Weston Ranch standout Torijean Saffold, the new defensive coordinator. The two worked together at Modesto Christian in recent years.

“It’s a solid group of guys from the community,” Kendall said. “I’m the only transplant, but I’m hoping I can bring them something that’s new.”

Kendall doubles as offensive coordinator and is working in a spread-tempo attack, which he thinks suits the returning personnel that features a senior-heavy group led by All-MLL First Team selections in quarterback Daryl Carpenter and receiver Christian Dell’Osso

The Riptide has had ample opportunities to assimilate to the new offense, participating in passing tournaments at Delta College and Stagg. River Islands hosted its own on Monday and also had a one-on-one with Weston Ranch.

“It actually fits really well for what I want to do,” Kendall said. “We’re faster than we are strong, but that’s what the spread offense normally is anyway. We have a good core of leadership with Christian Dell’Osso, Daryl Carpenter, Lucas Ruiz (All-MLL First Team linebacker) and Isaiah Sanchez (All-MLL Second Team defensive lineman).

“I like my underclassmen; we have a good group of juniors, and our JV has about 12 solid freshmen coming in. The future is bright, but it starts with the senior class, and we have to give them the best season we can.”

River Islands is coming off a 3-6 season, 2-4 in league, that ended with an unplanned bye, as Week 10 opponent Millennium called it off because of low numbers. That denied the Riptide a chance to get one more win that may have qualified it for one of the Sac-Joaquin Section’s inaugural bowl series.

“I don’t see why we can’t compete for the Mother Lode League,” Kendall said. “I know Calaveras (the reigning league champ) won state last year. I also know that River Islands left a lot on the table with some tough losses. The boys are hungry to get those games back.”

With anywhere from 50 to 60 players attending summer workouts, Kendall anticipates having around 30 players for each the varsity and JV teams.

The SJS Dead Period kicks off this week, and teams can begin official practices on Aug. 3. River Islands scrimmages at Orestimba on Aug. 21 ahead of its opener against visiting Waterford a week later.

“I think the players are ready for it,” Kendall said. “Everybody in the community has been all in and excited for the change. They want to see the kids succeed and are giving me all the support I need.

“We’re really excited about this getting to the point where it’s like the old town down South shutting down the city on Friday nights for the football game. That’s what we want to do in the near future.”