They Were Willing to Put in Their Time to Make Teams Successful : High schools: The section’s most experienced football coaches are also some of its best.

Think of powerhouse teams in professional or college football, and you are likely to find an experienced coach.

Coaching longevity, if it can be attained, often carries with it a certain degree of success. And high schools are no different, at least not in the San Diego Section of the California Interscholastic Federation.

Consider that:

* Of the 11 teams in The Times’ top 10 this week (two are tied for 10th), eight have coaches with at least 10 years of high school experience.

* In the top 10 teams, the coaches average 15 years on the job. In the top six, they average more than 17.

* Of the four playoff finalists last season, the coaches averaged 11 years experience. In ‘87, they averaged 15 1/2.

* Of the 10 championship coaches since the section adopted a 3-A division in 1979, Sweetwater’s Gene Alim is the only one to win without at least eight years of experience.

* Of the top 11 most successful section coaches of all time, seven are still active, and they have won seven of 10 3-A titles and 11 of the past 14 2-A titles.

Vista’s Dick Haines says, “You know how stats are; it’s who has the pencil last.”

So what are these coaches’ secrets of longevity and success?

Well, every one of the seven men who have been coaching in San Diego for 15 years or longer agree that having a supportive family is one of the most important factors.

“I’ve seen more coaches get out because of wives than wins and losses,” said Bonita Vista’s Jim Wilson.

Said Morse’s John Shacklett: “There’s just absolutely no way a coach who is married could do it without an understanding wife. That’s the first thing I tell a young man who wants to get into coaching.”

Other important ingredients include luck, good assistant coaches, supportive administrations, communications skills and the carry-over affect of experience.

“You know how you drive better today than when you were 16,” Point Loma’s Benny Edens said. “It’s not because you tried to drive better, but because of experience.”

One might wonder, if these guys are such good coaches, why they haven’t moved on to the colleges or pros.

Their answers sound similar.

“When I started,” Wilson said, “I hoped I’d wind up there someday. I’m not sure it isn’t better the way it worked out. I see the pressures of recruiting (in colleges) and the time involved. It isn’t as glamorous as it looks.”

Shacklett adds simply: “I thought my temperament was suited better for high school football.”

The coaches who began their careers before MTV or Michael Jackson’s first cosmetic surgery, before Prop. 48 or minimum SAT scores, before Dan Fouts became a household name or households came equipped with VCRs:

Bennie Edens, Point Loma

Age: 65.

CIF titles: 1987, 1982 (tie), 1966.

Runners-up: 1965, 1959.

Edens’ garden was, is and seemingly always will be at Point Loma.

“I’ve had a lot of sons of former players play for me,” he said. “I haven’t had a grandson playing yet, but I hope to.”

The Johnny Carson of San Diego County coaches, Edens is a legend and a staple on the peninsula and a witty, charming character.

“If you’re going to be in coaching, you’ve got to be able to laugh at yourself,” Edens said. “Humor plays an important part in life. A lot of things can be gotten over with humor.”

Edens recalls a Halloween when all his players came out onto the field for the first play of the game with nylon stockings over their faces.

And there was the time when before a big game with Clairemont when some players went over with axes to chop up a wooden sign that read, “Welcome to Clairemont High.”

“As it turns out,” Edens said, “they weren’t very good choppers, and my star running back put an ax through his foot and was out for the year.”

Edens doesn’t condone such behavior, but years later, he can have a laugh or two telling the story. This is a guy who can laugh with the best of them.

Tim Lane, a former assistant, once said of Edens, “He’s not a win-at-all-costs coach. He’s a have-fun-at-all-costs coach.”

Herb Meyer, El Camino

Age: 54.

CIF titles: 1984, ’82 (co-champs), ‘76, ‘75, ’63.

Runners-up: 1983, ‘65, ’62.

Meyer began coaching at Oceanside at age 22.

“Our school district was really ripped when I was hired,” Meyer said. “They thought we were de-emphasizing sports. They said, ‘What kind of a neophyte are you hiring?’ ”

Well, 210 victories and five CIF titles--both county highs--lend credence to this answer: a darned good one.

With 91 victories at El Camino, Meyer can become the only coach to win 100 or more games at two different county schools. He won 119 at Oceanside.

In 1975, the Pirates won the 2-A championship in his final year at Oceanside. When El Camino opened the following year, he guided the Wildcats to the 2-A title.

It wasn’t always easy, but Meyer, a strict disciplinarian who still enforces a haircut rule, managed to survive the turmoil of the late 1960s and early ‘70s.

“Now we all know that a haircut does not affect how a player will perform,” Meyer said. “It’s the fact that he’s willing to make the sacrifice is what’s important. It’s a traditional thing. On the first day of practice, we have seniors standing around with scissors in their hands ready to clip. Some of them are more than happy to trim hair because they’ve been there when they were (underclassmen).”

Gene Edwards, La Jolla

Age: 59.

CIF titles: None.

Runners-up: 1980.

Under his San Diego High annual picture, where it asks “What I want to be,” Edwards put, “A coach.”

He was for more than 30 years and now is turning in his whistle for a rod and reel.

Edwards will be 60 in March.

“I made a decision the first year I became a coach at Mar Vista. A girl did a report that determined if you taught until you were 65, your life expectancy is 67 1/2. If you taught until 60, you can expect to live until you’re 72.

“I made a decision then in 1956. By God, I’m never going to work a day after 60.”

So it’s off to the wilderness for Edwards, where he will join friends Bull Trometter (a former coach) and Charlie Clapper (La Jolla’s former principal) in touring the U.S.

Dick Haines, Vista

Age: 63.

CIF titles: 1985, ‘81, ’74.

Runners-up: 1986, ’84.

At Vista, Haines has had four “perfect” seasons--13-0 in 1974, ’81 and ’85 and 0-10 in 1988 (“I became a bad coach overnight,” he jokes).

But even with the ’88 season and a 1-4 mark this year--a downturn caused when the creation of Rancho Buena Vista divided the district’s talent--Haines’ career winning percentage at Vista is .724.

Now in his 38th year as a head coach--he also led strong teams in Ohio and West Virginia--Haines’ career record is 282-101-5.

“We’ve got to give those young guys like Herb Meyer something to shoot for,” he said.

Through it all, he said, “it’s been fun. There’s times you cry, and there’s times you die. But you look back and have no regrets. You stay young by staying around the kids. We’re stealing youth from them, you know.”

John Shacklett, Morse

Age: 50.

CIF titles: 1988, ’79.

Runners-up: 1987.

During a 10-0 regular season in 1975, Shacklett’s old wishbone offense was such a force that the Tigers did not attempt a pass all season. Finally, in a playoff game, quarterback Jerry Brooks connected with Dana Scott for a long touchdown. It would be the only pass all year.

“In the early days, I’m sure I was just like everybody else,” Shacklett said. “I thought I could coach anybody and work miracles. There’s no such thing as miracles. There’s just good kids and a lot of hard work.”

In addition to being one of the most successful coaches, Shacklett is also one of the great storytellers.

“My wife’s birthday fell on a game day one year,” he said. “and I completely forgot about it. And we had lost the game. That’s when I was at City (College) and starting to think about what I was doing in coaching. Things like should I slit my wrists or just jump off a bridge? But she didn’t say anything. It wasn’t until Sunday afternoon that I realized it. Boy, when it finally came out, I never forgot another one.”

Then there’s the time when a kid had a nervous breakdown during Monday’s practice after a big game the previous weekend.

Said Shacklett, “The kid looked at me and said, ‘It was the game, coach.’ I told him, ‘But we won.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, but they completed 18 passes over me.’ This kid had had a nervous breakdown over a game that we had won. That’s how intense he was as a football player.”

He adds: “With sports, it’s all funny.”

Jim Arnaiz, Helix

Age: 48.

CIF titles: 1982, ‘80, ’78.

Runners-up: 1985, ’81.

In the spring of 1981, Jim Plum, Helix’s star quarterback, somehow managed to snip off the ends of his index and middle fingers on his throwing hand with a lawn mower.

By the time Arnaiz heard the report, it had been exaggerated. He heard that Plum’s entire arm had been chopped off with a chain saw.

“I was really concerned,” Arnaiz said. “Not only for the future of our team, but for his future.”

As it turned out, after a summer of rehabilitation, Plum set a county record for passing yards in a season (3,328) and a career (6,913).

And Arnaiz did nothing--and hasn’t since--to hurt his reputation as one of the best offensive minds in the county.

Arnaiz shuns most of the credit and talks mostly of his assistants, seven of wh have been with him for more than 10 years, including Rick Ash, the assistant head coach and defensive coordinator.

Jim Wilson, Bonita Vista

Age: 55.

CIF titles: none

Runners-up: 1967

After two years as the head coach at L.A. Banning, Wilson came to Chula Vista in 1965 because, he said, “At that time, everybody wanted to come down to San Diego.”

In his 10 years at Chula Vista, he had nine consecutive winning seasons before going 2-7 in 1974.

Ten years later, after working as a backfield coach for two-time 3-A champion Sweetwater and as an assistant at Bonita Vista, he was promoted to the head coaching job there and turned a program that had won just eight games in four years into one that finished 8-2 in 1985.

“The game itself hasn’t changed very much over the years,” he said. “It’s still blocking and tackling. The ones who do it best win. It’s the outside factors that change much more.”

Wilson, who played football at the University of Redlands, remembers playing against Herb Meyer, who went to Pomona College. For the record, Pomona won.

“(Winning and losing) still means a great deal. I hope by now I can handle it a little better than when I was younger. But the emphasis is still the same.”

COUNTY COACHING VICTORY LEADERS

Coach School(s) Years W L T 1. Herb Meyer Oceanside/ 1959-75/1976-active 210 93 14 El Camino 2. Bennie Edens Point Loma 1955-active 177 133 13 3. Dick Haines Vista 1970-active 155 59 0 4. Bob Woodhouse San Marcos/ 1963-75/1977-85 155 69 5 San Pasqual 5. Chick Embrey Escondido 1956-77 145 66 4 6. Birt Slater Kearny 1959-76 134 42 9 7. Gene Edwards La Jolla 1962-active 128 123 9 8. John Shacklett Morse 1971-active 127 63 6 9. Jack Mashin Grossmont 1923-47 121 65 19 10. Jim Arnaiz Helix 1973-active 120 51 7 11. Vic Player Lincoln 1974-82/1986-active 107 28 2 12. Dave Lay Sweetwater/ 1967-77/1987-88 100 33 5 Orange Glen

THE 10-YEAR CLUB Active high school football coaches with 10 or more years experience in San Diego County:

Bennie Edens, Point Loma: 35 Herb Meyer, El Camino: 31 Gene Edwards, La Jolla: 28 Dick Haines, Vista: 20* John Shacklett, Morse: 19 Jim Arnaiz, Helix: 17 Jim Wilson, Chula Vista/Bonita Vista: 15 Vic Player, Lincoln: 13 Joe Rockhold, El Capitan: 13 Brad Griffith, Mira Mesa: 13 Ken Broach, San Marcos: 12 Tom Pack, Fallbrook: 12 Craig Bell, San Dieguito/Rancho Buena Vista: 11 Mel Galli, Carlsbad/Ramona: 11 Ed Burke, Torrey Pines/San Dieguito: 10 Steve Miner, Clairemont/Madison: 10 Mike Cunningham, Ramona/St. Augustine/Julian:10

*--Haines coached 18 years in Ohio and West Virginia before coming to Vista. **--Wilson coached two years at L.A. Banning before coming to Chula Vista.