Many raise money to aid O.C. coach
Taking a look around Orange County high school sports:
•This is when county high school athletics is at its best: Through the efforts of various people and schools, more than $136,000 has been raised for Barry Turner, the very popular longtime Foothill soccer coach — who is battling Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) — and his family. More fundraising events are coming, and more information is available at barryturnerfoundation.com.
•Orange Lutheran has not publicly announced (to us) a timeline for applications, paper-screening and interviews for its football coaching job that became available when Jim Kunau was reassigned after 19 years guiding the program from small-schools power to top-division champion. An interesting applicant: Fullerton College coach Tim Byrnes, who has been running the Hornets program for four seasons. Byrnes was an excellent football player at Sunny Hills and Cal State Fullerton.
•The latest news on Harry Welch's status as football coach at Santa Margarita, following controversies around his assistant coaches continuing to coach after marijuana possession convictions and a county sheriff's inquiry into an alleged assault of a team player (and not pursued further for lack of evidence), is ... well, there is no news. Stephen Bohannon of the media relations office at the Diocese of Orange, which is handling the Welch situation, responded via email the following from the Diocese general counsel: "The matter regarding Harry Welch is a personnel matter currently under review and we are not at liberty to comment at this time." Welch had been placed on administrative leave last month, and was not present at Santa Margarita for letter-of-intent signing ceremonies, an event which coaches usually attend — especially a coach as effervescent as Welch.
•It has been similarly quiet on another Diocesan/athletics front, this one the legal complaint it filed in Orange County Superior Court on behalf of Mater Dei, alleging that the CIF-Southern Section has engaged in unfair practices toward Mater Dei. Bohannon, again relaying a response from the Diocese general counsel: "The Mater Dei v. CIF-SS litigation is moving through the judicial process. There is nothing new to report."
•Many students have been suspended or expelled at La Habra via wide, simultaneous disciplinary action over recent days. Some athletes were part of this sweep, of course, and La Habra football coach Frank Mazzotta confirmed that three of them were Highlanders football players.
•Who will replace Jerry DeBusk as boys basketball coach at Santa Margarita, where DeBusk is in the last of his 20 seasons? Brian Carmer has been on the Santa Margarita staff for many years, including the past seven as associate head coach, teaches at Santa Margarita, and certainly seems deserving of a fair shot. But expect some well-known county public school coaches to make an effort at becoming the Santa Margarita coach, which, whether you like it or not, would be viewed as a promotion for them.
•I have seen basketball's future and its name is Shabazz Muhammad. Comparing LeBron James the time he played locally as a high school athlete for St. Vincent-St. Mary of Ohio in a game against Mater Dei, and Muhammad on Saturday with his Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas teammates in the Nike Extravaganza at Mater Dei, Muhammad is the better high school basketball player. He scored 41 points against Whitney Young of Chicago and looked more polished than James was as a high school player.
•Check out this list of past Nike Extravaganza players, courtesy of Nike Extravaganza media coordinator Steve Kasper: Carmelo Anthony (Oak Hill Academy of Mouth of Wilson, Va., now with the New York Knicks); Kevin Love (Lake Oswego of Oregon, Minnesota Timberwolves); Tayshaun Prince (Dominguez of Compton, Detroit Pistons); Kawhi Leonard (ML King of Riverside, San Antonio Spurs); and Jrue Holiday (Campbelll Hall of North Hollywood, Philadelphia 76ers). And that list does not include all of the Mater Dei guys who played in the Nike Extravaganza and made it to college basketball, past and present.
•Cox3 must-see TV: Cox3, which does a fine job covering south-county athletics, is taping Thursday's Capistrano Valley-Mission Viejo boys basketball game for telecasts on Friday at 11:30 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m. and 9 p.m.
•There were 101 coaches who attended the county retired coaches luncheon at the Santa Ana Elks Club two weeks ago. That is an all-time high for the event. The attendees represented 3,055 combined years of coaching.
•Marie Ishida announced this is her final year as CIF State executive director, a position she has held for 11 years. Ishida has been an open-minded and forward-thinking executive director.
•Spring sports begin with first contests Feb. 24. Baseball gets started, as usual, with two excellent tournaments — the 32-team Loara Tournament and the 70-team Newport Elks Tournament, both of which begin March 1. Spring sports coaches, please click here to get your surveys and return them ASAP via email to preps@ocregister.com for our previews.
•Huntington Beach had an alumni vs. varsity baseball game last week, and former Oiler and current Angel Hank Conger was there. Conger placed many baseballs onto the school's tennis courts during a home-run derby.
•How many local dads took their elementary school-aged daughters to sporting goods stores to buy soccer balls after we published last week that 82 county girls soccer players signed letters of intent last week?
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
