Hoffman Has Big Shoes to Fill This Season at Mission Viejo

Mike Hoffman calls it the Notre Dame factor.

That’s when a coach inherits a program with such a sturdy foundation of success that he is expected to continue it year after year, decade after decade, regardless of who’s calling the shots.

Hoffman is taking over as coach for the fourth-ranked Mission Viejo boys’ track and field team, the most decorated program in county history.

“The only difficulty will be keeping up the Notre Dame thing, where you’re continuously winning,” said Hoffman, a 1984 graduate of Mission Viejo who was an assistant coach the last eight years. “You don’t want to mess with things.”

Hoffman is attempting to fill the shoes of Gene Gurule, a teacher at the school since 1969 who had two successful stints coaching the Diablos. Gurule will be an assistant coach this season in preparation for his retirement next year.

“After 35 years of teaching and coaching I felt I needed a break and Mike Hoffman is ready to take over,” Gurule said. “It’s nice to get someone in there who’s familiar with the program and wants to keep our winning ways going. He’s enthusiastic and this is a good time to step aside.”

Gurule took over as head coach in 1980 and guided Mission Viejo to a state co-championship two years later, when future Olympian Steve Kerho earned every point with victories in the 110 and 300 hurdles. The only other county teams to win state titles in track and field were the Fullerton boys in 1935 and the Santa Ana boys in 1930.

After seven consecutive South Coast League titles and a 42-0 dual-meet record, Gurule left Mission Viejo to become coach at Saddleback College, but returned in 1993 and led the Diablos to Orange County and Southern Section Division II titles in 1998.

“There’s a lot of history in track and field at our school,” Gurule said. “And we’ve had some outstanding kids come through.”

In addition to Gurule, Hoffman will benefit from the experience of 84-year-old throws coach Hugo DeGroot, who has taught hundreds of athletes over the years, including Fullerton’s Natalie Kaaiawahia, a four-time state champion in the shotput and two-time champion in the discus during the early 1980s.

“I’m really lucky because the entire staff stayed around,” said Hoffman, who was previously responsible for sprints, hurdles and relays. “I even found an extra hurdle coach, which is not easy to do.”

Gurule will continue coaching pole vaulters and distance runners at Mission Viejo, just as he did during his years at Saddleback. What Gurule won’t bother with is the administrative side of coaching.

“I’m looking for a situation where I can devote more time to the coaching aspect,” Gurule said. “But it’s kind of hard for me to step down. When you’ve been with the school and program as long as I have, you have a way of doing things.”

Among the tasks Gurule won’t miss are setting up for meets, outfitting more than 100 athletes, making sure they’re all eligible, getting them to competitions on time and making sure assistant coaches are doing a good job.

“I can let the head coach deal with all the headache stuff,” Gurule said. “Track meets are like a three-ring circus.”

Hoffman is also fortunate to have a large number of bodies to tap. So far, approximately 160 boys have come out for the team, up from an average of about 140 in years past.

“We have a humongous team,” Hoffman said. “It’s nice to know as soon as Gene left, the athletes and community didn’t say, ‘Let’s leave, too.’ ”

Other teams to watch:

When it comes to speed, there’s no county team within striking distance of Edison. The third-ranked Chargers demonstrated their bottomless pool of sprinters by setting a county indoor record in the 8x160 relay at Saturday’s L.A. Invitational (2:14.92), eclipsing Santa Ana Valley’s 1984 mark (2:15.6).

Edison also recorded the county’s all-time second-fastest 4x160 indoor time (1:07.2) and nearly upset three-time defending champion Long Beach Poly, which needed a burst from Benny Robinson in the final yards to win by one-tenth of a second.

Edison Coach Erich Moreno said one of his goals is to get his 4x100 relay team into the Southern Section finals. The Chargers, who had one of the top one-lap relay teams in the county last season, were disqualified for a false start at the Orange County Championships and then dropped the baton at the Sunset League finals, which ended their season.

Edison’s strengths are in sharp contrast to Sunset League rival Esperanza, which is unmatched among county teams in the weight divisions. Travis Pendleton, third in the state last season in the discus, leads Esperanza’s deep throwing corps.

The second-ranked Aztecs will host Edison in a Sunset League dual meet April 6.