It looked like Friday would be the day Edison would announce who will replace the retired Dave White as the school’s football coach.
Probably next week. These things can get complicated.
We’ve speculated here for months that it will be one of two Edison alums – Santa Margarita assistant coach Jeff Grady or Canyon head coach Mike Ogas.
Santa Margarita coach Rich Fisher, asked about it last week, said he hopes it’s not Grady.
“I’m just being greedy,” said Fisher, smiling. He also said Grady is very qualified to be a head coach.
There had been speculation in the O.C. high school sports world that Grady lacked the required teaching credential to be hired. Grady has that.
Taking a look around Orange County high school sports:
• Edison athletic director Rich Boyce confirmed Thursday that the Edison Chargers are happy with their stadium situation and will not be leaving Huntington Beach.
• Former JSerra football coach Jim Hartigan said his son Connor will remain at the school. Matthew was a starting linebacker and played receiver for JSerra this past season as a junior. Tyler Hartigan, a freshman linebacker who saw some action on varsity, has transferred to Santa Margarita.
• Buena Park has added a teaching position to its football coaching position that became open after Anthony White resigned. As it is such a complicated and important position, a football head coach should be a full-time faculty or staff member at any high school.
• Yes, football is that important. It shouldn’t be bigger than other high school curriculum, but it is. Whether anyone likes it or not, football sets the tone for school spirit for the entire school year.
• And when you’re in your 30s (and beyond) and meet people who ask which high school you attended, and you answer, the discussion usually veers to your school’s football program. Nobody says, “Oh, yeah. You guys were great at the Science Fair!”
• Mater Dei All-County defensive lineman Austin Faoliu decommitted from Arizona. Faoliu, 6-4 and 295 pounds, is making a recruiting trip to Oklahoma this weekend. He plans to announce his college choice at the Polynesian Bowl in Hawaii on Jan. 21.
• Edison defensive lineman Parker Thomas is playing for the U.S. team that will play Japan’s 17-and-under national team Monday in the International Bowl at AT&T Stadium, the Dallas Cowboys’ home stadium, in Arlington, Texas.
•Sebastian Much scored 40 points Wednesday to lead JSerra to a 78-76 home win over Santa Margarita in a Trinity League boys basketball game. In this week’s O.C. top[ 10, Santa Margarita is No. 2 and JSerra is No. 8.
• The CIF-Southern Section office as of Thursday afternoon had not received transfer eligibility paperwork regarding Bol Bol, a 7-foot-1 basketball player who is considered one of the top 20 junior boys basketball prospects in the nation. The readership, which is my ultimate boss, expects me to speculate, so here it goes: It might be a complicated transfer, and Mater Dei likely is making sure it has everything in order before submitting the paperwork for a particularly high-profile student-athlete.
• Today, Bol’s coach at his previous school, Bishop Miege of Shawnee, Kan., retracted his statement of last week that Bol had failing grades upon his withdrawal from Bishop Miege. Mater Dei furnished letters in which the coach, Rick Zych, and the Bishop Miege president apologized for the statement.
• Nike Extravagaza tickets are available through materdei.org/tickets. There are several great teams – Chino Hills, Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth, Oak Hill Academy of Virginia and more – in the Feb. 3 and 4 event at Mater Dei.
• Mike’s Long Shot Challenge on Monday is a 12-game boys basketball event at Costa Mesa and Estancia high schools, with six games at each school. All proceeds go to pediatric cancer research. The schedule is at ocvarsity.com on the boys basketball page.
• From what’s been seen so far, no boys basketball players are getting more double- and triple teams than Esperanza’s Kezie Okpala and Orange Lutheran’s Chris Williams.
• It’s a nonleague boys basketball game, but Villa Park vs. Esperanza on Fridayt night at Esperanza should be excellent. On the floor will be two of the top All-O.C. candidates, Okpala and Villa Park’s Myles Franklin, and two of the county’s better student sections will provide a heck of a sideshow.
• Franklin, Okpala and Williams are among seven O.C. players nominated for the McDonald’s All-American Game. The others are Adrease Jackson of Santa Margarita, Miles Brookins of Mater Dei, Sebastian Much of JSerra and Joseph Riley of Los Alamitos. Final rosters will be announced Sunday. The boys and girls McDonald’s games are March 29.
• O.C. girls basketball players nominated to the McDonald’s game are Jayda Adams of Mater Dei, Cierra Hall of Fairmont Prep, and Kianna Smith of Troy.
• Parents should not instruct their sons or daughters during their sons’ or daughters’ games. That’s the job of the coach, who is just another teacher because the court, field, track, pool, etc., is just another class room. Imagine if a parent was in the geometry class yelling, “Son, that’s not how to draw a parallelogram!”
• The CIF-SS Executive Committee, the administrative body for the CIF-SS Council, which is the section’s rules-making and rules-changing body, meets Saturday for many purposes including examining the agenda for the Jan. 25 Council meeting. The Council will vote on a proposal that would add pitch count limitations to the 30-outs per week restrictions already in place for baseball pitchers. The Executive Committee will vote to recommend or not recommend that the Council pass the proposal – the Council more often than not follows an Executive Committee’s recommendation.
• O.C. sports lost three big-time contributors who died over the past few weeks: Mark Thornton, a great basketball coach at Capistrano Valley and Dana Hills; Dave Cowen, former athletic director at Woodbridge who was involved in many other high school sports-related activities and causes; and Walt Simon, known to many as the father of all-time Mater Dei and Arizona basketball standout Miles Simon and one of the finest basketball players in California history and a mentor to many in basketball and beyond. We’re going to miss those guys.
Contact the writer: sfryer@scng.com
