Joseph Paul’s tennis coaching career began as a favor.
Hired to teach at Cypress High in 2006, Paul was asked to meet with the school’s former principal, Dr. Ben Carpenter, who had a question to ask of his newest faculty member.
“I walked into the office and the principal goes, ‘I need your help. I have all my other coaching positions filled, but I need a tennis coach,’” Paul recalled. “I didn’t know anything about tennis. So he says, ‘Don’t worry. They (the players) all take private lessons. Just make sure that they have their paperwork done, they have uniforms and you’ll be good.’”
What started out as a good deed soon became one of the more rewarding parts of Paul’s teaching position.
After leading Cypress to its first CIF-SS team final this past season, Joseph Paul has been named the Register’s coach of the year.
The Centurions’ head man began coaching the girls squad when he was first hired, and took over the boys program in 2010.
Since he took over, Cypress has steadily climbed the ranks in the Empire League, where it finished second this past season behind Valencia. In the process, the Centurions earned the No. 3 seed in the Division 3 playoff bracket.
“I knew it was going to be a good group of boys, based on going to the quarterfinals last year,” Paul said. “We lost to Arroyo Grande, but they had five Division 1 signees. We competed with them, but we were young still.”
With a team full of starters returning, this year’s squad had its eyes set on a semifinal run.
As it turned out, the semis was merely a pit stop for Cypress as it advanced to the CIF finals for the first time in the school’s 40-year history.
The Centurions (21-4) ended up winning the most matches in program history, and took runner-up honors after falling in a 10-8 nail-biter to Oaks Christian of Westlake Village.
“The boys played their hearts out,” Paul said. “I couldn’t ask for any more than what they did. They didn’t want to give up, and I thought it was very cool to watch.”
Contact the writer: kconnolly@ocregister.com
