When Brett Brown convenes his first fall football practice of 2016, the young men on his Huntington Beach football team will have a coach who has been in their shoes, and cleats.
Brown was raised in Huntington Beach, played football at Marina, got his first coaching job at Ocean View, and has been on the Oilers staff for nine years.
He knows the Sunset League, which includes all of the area teams and schools up and down the coast, as well as anyone, and he promises to bring that sense of community and continuity to his first head coaching job.
Brown was the offensive coordinator under former coach Eric Lo, who stepped down after nine years that included five trips to the postseason, and the first CIF-SS title for the school, the 2013 team that turned a 5-5 regular season into a championship.
“I grew up in the area, so I have a background that relates to the players,” Brown said. “It is great to coach in an area where community is important. There are kids at Huntington Beach whose parents and other relatives went to school her.
“I’ve really enjoyed being part of building a program at Huntington that has been at a high competitive level.”
Brown has coached several different systems as offensive coordinator. The spread has become the offense of choice of many schools, but the Oilers ran the ball effectively last season behind Hunter Simmons ran for 1,621 yards. In 2013, quarterback Kai Ross was a double-threat, throwing for 2,291 yards and rushing for 810.
Brown plans to look at his talent and then find an offense that works best.
“We have a good returning running back and we want to get the ball in his hands as much as possible,” he said. “We’ll run some spread but also some two-back sets.”
The Sunset League traditionally is one of the toughest leagues in Orange County, in all sports and not just football. Five of the six schools have won CIF titles – Edison four (1979, 1980, 1985, 2012), Los Alamitos four (1991-93, 2002), Newport Harbor three (1994, 1999, 2005), Fountain Valley two (1978, 1988) and Huntington Beach one (2013).
Newport Harbor (6), Los Alamitos (5), Edison (3), Fountain Valley (2) and Huntington Beach (1) also reached a title game 17 other times.
“The competition is extremely difficult,” Brown, who earned his degree and teaching credential at Cal State Fullerton, said. “It’s one of the best leagues in California.
“There are no easy games in the league, and you see that in the success our teams have had – Edison, Los Alamitos and Fountain Valley. I’ve known guys like (Edison’s) Dave White a long time and know what kind of coaches people expect here.”
The Oilers are one of the oldest schools in Orange County, playing football for the first time in 1925 under Cap Shue, who coached the football team through 1948 and holds the school record for wins (62). Ken Moats had some good seasons in the ‘60s.
George Pascoe won 57 games from 1983 to 1995, including the 1993 team that played for a CIF title and featured the most prominent football player to come out Huntington Beach, Tony Gonzalez, who went on to star at Cal and had a 17-year NFL career.
Lo was 54-48 in his nine seasons including the 2013 title team. That squad, led by Kai Ross, went 5-5 in the regular season including a 48-6 loss to Edison, then rolled in the playoffs, beating Edison in a return match, 28-21, and Newport Harbor for the title.
“I learned a lot from Eric in my years on the staff,” Brown said. “He did a great job putting together competitive teams in a tough league. I want to build on what he accomplished.”
