Who will replace ousted top coach?
Taking a look around Orange County high school sports:
•Jim Kunau's removal as football head coach at Orange Lutheran and reassignment to what appears to be something of an assistant athletic director position at the school has all the markings of being the result of a parental revolt. The numbers of parents who are disgruntled about a coach always are in the minority, but if loud enough and persistent enough they can make things happen, especially at private schools that rely upon parental financial support. What Kunau did at Orange Lutheran, building that program up from a small-schools level team to one that could compete and win in the Trinity League and Pac-5 Division, and to do so without being shadowed by allegations of cheating truly is one of the great coaching achievements in the history of Orange County athletics.
•Who replaces Kunau? Some Lutheran alums and boosters might want to see the return of former Lancers assistant coach Brent Vieselmeyer, who has coached Valor Christian of Highlands Ranch, Colo., to Colorado state championships the past three seasons. La Habra coach Frank Mazzotta, content at La Habra, told us he would have to look at Lutheran's pay scale, benefits and retirement packages and the state of the football program and the school before considering applying, and Huntington Beach coach Eric Lo, similarly comfortable with the Oilers, said he has not contemplated an attempt at the Lutheran vacancy.
•Interesting item about that Valor Christian school – this month, the school, fresh off of those three consecutive Colorado state titles, was not invited to be part of a new Pioneer League in football. According to the Denver Post, "a heated public-private argument" preceded the decision by the Pioneer League's other seven schools to exclude Valor Christian, thus forcing Valor Christian to play only nonleague games as a freelance school in 2012. Former Orange Lutheran athletic director Rod Sherman is the A.D. at Valor Christian.
•Meanwhile, it is with much interest that we wait and see if Harry Welch will retain his position as football coach at Santa Margarita, or be assessed lesser discipline or if he emerges unscathed from a month's worth of controversies within the Eagles program. The decision by the Orange County District Attorney's office to not file charges against him, after the county sheriff's department investigated an alleged physical attack upon a Santa Margarita player, might ease the pressure. The school and the Diocese of Orange (Santa Margarita is a Diocesan school) continue their own review.
•It looks like San Clemente's Kyle Murphy, a 6-7, 260-pound tackle who is ranked among the top three offensive lineman recruits by everybody who ranks them, is going to wait until signing day Wednesday to announce his college destination. Stanford and USC likely lead the race for Murphy.
•Hawaii football scored something of a "steal" this week when it got a commitment from Mission Viejo cornerback Anthony Pierce. He is not huge – 5-9, 170 – but that's big enough to play cornerback in NCAA Division 1 football, especially for somebody with Pierce's skills. Every time I saw Pierce play, he provided one or two big plays in the Diablos' biggest games by making a key interception or breaking up a potential touchdown pass, or causing a fumble or recovering one or blocking a kick.
•The CIF-Southern Section Council, the section's rules-making body composed of representatives from its 86 leagues, meets Thursday and has two interesting proposals on which it will vote. One is reducing the number of guaranteed entries in the football playoffs to two entries, instead of the current three, from five-team leagues like the Sea View and South Coast leagues, and to three entries, instead of the current four, from seven-team leagues like the Century, Empire and Long Beach-based Moore leagues. The other big proposal, created by the Trinity League, would eliminate the "athletically motivated" language from rules that limit or deny transfer eligibility.
•Some information on the Mater Dei at St. John Bosco of Bellflower boys basketball game Friday at 7 p.m. (both are undefeated in Trinity League play): the ticket booth at St. John Bosco opens at 4 p.m., once the gym is full they are closing the doors and there will be no exiting/re-entry allowed; tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for senior citizens, $1 for children, and admission is free for Bosco and Mater Dei students with valid student identification and the active or retired military personnel with proper I.D. One of Bosco's better players is Kameron Murrell, a 6-foot-2 sophomore who transferred from Mater Dei.
•The Nike Extravaganza is next week, Feb. 3 and 4, at Mater Dei. Tickets ($11-$22) are on sale, cash only, at the Mater Dei athletics ticket window Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
•This year's Nike Extravaganza is loaded. On the Friday five-game schedule, Mater Dei's boys team plays a rematch with St. John Bosco at 7:30 p.m. followed by a matchup of the girls teams ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in California – No. 1 Windward of Los Angeles vs. No. 2 Mater Dei. Saturday's schedule includes Mission Viejo vs. Ocean View at 11:40 a.m., state No. 2 Long Beach Poly vs. Orange Lutheran at 6 p.m., state No. 12 La Verne Lutheran (featuring Arizona signee, 6-foot-10 Grant Jerrett) vs. state No. 1 Mater Dei at 7:30 p.m., and Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas, led by the nation's highest-rated prospect, Shabazz Muhammad, vs. Whitney Young of Chicago at 9 p.m.
