Martin Stringer is leaving Mater Dei to be an associate dean at Santiago Canyon College. FILE PHOTO BY MICHAEL GOULDING MORE PHOTOS Related links Santa Margarita's Bauer steps down Archive: All OCVarsity Voice columns

OCVarsity Voice: Departing coaches taught lessons to players and more

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Two of the most prominent high school soccer coaches in the CIF-Southern Section have called it a career.

First it was Mater Dei's Martin Stringer, who stepped down as boys soccer coach to accept an associate dean position at Santiago Canyon College.

Stringer led a Monarchs team this season that many left for dead all the way to the CIF-Southern Section Division I semifinals.

Two months after Stringer announced he was stepping down, Santa Margarita's Curt Bauer called it a career and announced his retirement on Monday.

There were rumors from the start of the season that Stringer was going to step down at the end of the season. And after the Monarchs were eliminated by Santa Margarita, I asked Stringer if this would be it for him. He smiled and politely said, "No comment."

But I knew there was so much behind that "no comment" and as it turned out, I was right.

It was 9:45 a.m. Saturday when my phone rang. I was washing the dishes at the time. I looked at my phone and saw it read "Curt Bauer".

I was very surprised given I had not talked to Bauer since I called him to tell him he was The Register's Coach of the Year.

"Were you asleep?" Bauer said.

"No, I'm actually washing the dishes. What's up?" I responded.

"Just wanted to let you know I'm retiring," Bauer said.

And so it went. Another coach to call it a career.

Bauer said he wanted to spend time attending his daughters' extracurricular activities. And it's understandable. Bauer, 42, has been coaching since he was 18. He started at Mater Dei, leading the school to its first CIF title. He spent 17 seasons at Santa Margarita, guiding the Eagles to national prowess after seven CIF titles and ending his career with a dynasty: three consecutive CIF-SS Division I titles to go along with a CIF Southern California Regional championship.

When I started covering soccer four years ago, I had the pleasure of learning the sport and the soccer county scene because of coaches like Servite's Mike Lussier and Saddleback's Mel Silva, both of whom took me under his wing and taught me the ropes on how high school soccer is played compared to the collegiate and professional level.

Then others followed suit: El Toro's Ken Sjobom, Orange Lutheran's Steve Harder, Santa Ana Valley's Jose Sanchez and Los Alamitos' Don Martinez.

My relationship with Stringer and Bauer started off a little shaky, however.

I was 20 when I arrived at The Register, young and still learning the ropes of being a sportswriter despite having spent three years at the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

I can't recall exactly the game, but I know I asked Stringer a question and his response wasn't one that made me feel good about my reporting skills at the end.

I know that from that moment, I spent almost three years without talking to Stringer, choosing instead talking to his very helpful assistant, Jack Rice.

But our silence was finally broken when I decided to do a 10 Questions piece on Stringer. His attitude took me totally by surprise.

He was laughing, making jokes when I took his picture.

I thought, "This is the Martin Stringer I've wanted to get to know."

And from that point on, Stringer was nice to deal with. When the playoffs rolled around this year, he was a pleasure to talk to. He thanked me for covering the soccer matches, shook my hand, and said "Thank you" twice to me. And it was only the wild-card round.

Bauer and I did not get off to the best of starts, either. And we had our run-ins this season, too.

But we always kept our relationship professional, to the point where we texted each other back-and-forth about scores and what not.

I'll admit, it was a bit intimidating interviewing Bauer. He gave short answers, and for a 20-year-old reporter who was just getting his feet wet, I sure could not come up with questions fast enough for Bauer's quick and short answers.

So I often only asked Bauer one or two questions at the most.

Of course, then I started covering Major League Soccer and my nervousness went out the window. I owned my beat (Chivas USA) and asking a question never became difficult for me. Not in front of a horde of reporters at practice or at a news conference. I asked Coach Bob Bradley and others the toughest questions. In fact, I was known for asking the tough questions.

So when I asked Bauer for a minute after the Eagles lost to Servite at Santa Margarita High, and Bauer said, "Not right now", I brushed it off, wrote "No comment' on my notepad and headed to Lussier.

I wrote in the paper the next day,"Santa Margarita coach Curt Bauer declined to comment."

When I ran into Bauer a few weeks later he gave me a hard time. Apparently what he meant to say was that he wouldn't talk to me at the moment, choosing to talk to his players first and then talk to me.

That was my mistake. But he kidded and we got over it.

I spent a lot of time during the latter part of February and March covering Santa Margarita. Numerous phone calls, texts and interviews were spent with Bauer because the Eagles went far in the playoffs.

I didn't need all that time to know that Bauer, along with Stringer, is among the most knowledgeable coaches in the Southern Section. That much I told to a few coaches and colleagues who agreed.

Though Bauer and I at times did not see each other eye-to-eye, I always considered Bauer as the go-to guy for high school soccer.

He developed a powerhouse in Santa Margarita. He knew the sport arguably better than anybody.

It's too bad that Bauer and Stringer stepped down just as we were developing a friendly (not just professional) relationship.

Orange County will have a difficult time replacing both guys, who turned out to be classy after all.

Contact the writer: mmelendez@ocregister.com