Welch's move makes a major impact

The impact of Santa Margarita's hiring of Harry Welch will be significant.

Santa Margarita had become less of a preferred destination for incoming high school football players in recent years. That was not truly the fault of Mike Jacot, who coached Santa Margarita for seven years and had a couple of fine seasons there. All of the following external events lowered Santa Margarita's profile in south county football:

•The return of Bob Johnson to coaching. Upon taking over at Mission Viejo in 1999, Johnson quickly built Mission into the top public-school program in the county. Mission Viejo began drawing athletes who otherwise would have gone to Santa Margarita, like quarterback Jordan Palmer, whose brother Carson starred at Santa Margarita during the long break Johnson took from coaching in the '90s.

•The opening of JSerra, and its eventual hiring of Jim Hartigan. Hartigan coached Santa Margarita to a couple of CIF championships, albeit not Division I championships. His reputation when he returned to Orange County at JSerra, and JSerra's obvious improvement the past couple of years, has made JSerra a viable option for the school-shopping football player and his parents.

•Tesoro's rapid ascension. The school quickly became a lower-levels CIF champion when Jim O'Connell was coaching there, and his replacement Brian Barnes kept it going with a CIF Pac-5 finals appearance in '08.

•Dana Hills' revival. It's a winning program again, and Coach Brent Melbon's reputation is growing.

•San Clemente's consistency. That's a steady program, and Tritons coach Eric Patton commands much respect and admiration.

St. Margaret's? OK, the school did win three CIF-Southern Section championships, and a state championship, during Welch's three years there, 2007-09. But it does not look like some All-County/Pac-10 prospect went to St. Margaret's instead of Santa Margarita, JSerra or a public school because of Harry Welch.

Welch's presence at Santa Margarita will shake things up. It might take a year or two, but Welch's dynamic personality and his coaching acumen will reinvigorate Santa Margarita, where he, Johnson and Lakewood coach Thad McNeil emerged as the three finalists from 37 applicants and went through interviews Wednesday.

Football is an important part of any high school campus. Smart principals recognize that football sets the tone for school spirit for the rest of the school year. And at a private school, football can be a fabulous fundraiser.

Private schools have alumni groups that will financially support their alma maters, and the more successful the private schools' football programs, the more invigorated the alumni — and the more generous the alumni is, too.

Look at Servite. Access to figures is not possible, but be assured that Servite's football success since Troy Thomas got there in 2005 has boosted fundraising at the school. Not only are alums writing more checks and for larger amounts than before, but Servite started selling more tickets to games, which also means more cash from program sales, T-shirt sales, sweatshirt sales, Credo gear, etc.

Yes, Thomas knows that, too — and so does Crespi of Encino, which made Thomas a huge offer to return there to coach his alma mater, where he coached before '05. It became a bidding battle between Crespi and Servite until Thomas, negotiating like William Shatner, decided to accept Servite's offer to remain with the Friars.

Santa Margarita does not have the deep, dedicated alumni roster that Servite has, or Mater Dei has. (Neither does Orange Lutheran — yet.)

Santa Margarita's oldest alums are around 38 years old. That alumni pool is growing in number and in finances. If Welch gets the Santa Margarita football program to the top of the Trinity League standings and brings in some playoff victories and perhaps even a CIF championship, then those alums are going to be very Mater Dei- and Servite-like in their monetary support.

And winning begets winning. If Welch can get Santa Margarita on top, it will become a prime destination for football players again. Johnson still is at Mission Viejo, Hartigan at JSerra, Patton at San Clemente, Barnes at Tesoro and Melbon at Dana Hills. Aliso Niguel, Capistrano Valley and Trabuco Hills are in hiring mode, too, so it will be interesting to see whom those schools get.

Already, the landscape of south county football has changed. Welch arrives at Santa Margarita as subtle as a meteor.