Nedler Hired to Coach at Aliso Niguel

Ken Nedler, who coached 13 seasons at Santa Barbara San Marcos High, has been hired as girls’ basketball coach at Aliso Niguel.

“Ken happened to be available to us by luck of the draw,” said Mike Middlebrook, athletic director at Aliso Niguel. “He recently married a teacher who works at Newport Harbor High and was looking to relocate. With his experience at building that program at San Marcos from scratch, [Principal Steven Lawrence] and I liked him right away for what he talked about and what he stood for.”

Nedler, whose Royals were 14-12 last season, replaces Kristen Okura, who was fired June 28 after two seasons.

Nedler takes over a program that was 14-13 last season and, like San Marcos, was eliminated in the first round of the Southern Section playoffs.

FOOTBALL

David Doomey, who had an outstanding sophomore season at Irvine and then transferred to Santa Margarita, has returned to Irvine for his senior year.

Doomey rushed for 1,149 yards and 13 touchdowns at Irvine, helping the Vaqueros to a share of the Sea View League title in 1998, but scored only two touchdowns at Santa Margarita, where he caught 22 passes for 281 yards and rushed six times for eight yards.

“I can almost assure you he won’t rush the ball only six times this year,” Irvine Coach Terry Henigan said. “Before David came back, we thought our running back position, with Peter Abe and Godfrey Young, was one of our strongest. With David back, it’s even better.”

Doomey also played defensive back and was a kicker for Santa Margarita. He connected on 24 of 25 point-after attempts and five of six field-goal attempts.