Trabuco Hills officials are expected to recommend...

Trabuco Hills officials are expected to recommend a new football coach Monday, sending his name to the Saddleback Valley board of education for approval.

School officials met with the three finalists Thursday: El Toro assistant Craig Collins, Trabuco Hills assistant Bill Crow and Los Amigos head Coach Roger Takahashi.

None of the three could be reached for comment.

The board approved Tim Ellis as coach in early April last month, but the offer was rescinded less than a week later after parents and boosters protested the hiring.

Ellis, who has been the head coach at Tustin the last two years, was offered a teaching position at Mission Viejo High School, where he would be a varsity assistant, according to sources. But Ellis declined the offer.

Ellis remains a teacher at Tustin, but school officials did not allow him to return as coach.