When you think of the success of...

When you think of the success of the Huntington Beach High

volleyball program, you have to start at the top to find the catalyst

behind the molding of three CIF Southern Section championship teams.

Rocky Ciarelli, who has guided the Oiler girls to both a Southern

Section and state title at the conclusion of the 1996 season and the boys

team to consecutive CIF titles in 1993-94, announced Tuesday that he will

step down as head coach.

Ciarelli said from his home Wednesday that he ‘probably will come

back’ to the program sometime in ‘the near fear future,’ although, for

the next year, anyway, the Oilers will have a new head coach in

Ciarelli’s longtime assistant, Isaac Owens.

Siting personal reasons, Ciarelli will take at least a year off

before re-evaluating his situation.

‘I have some personal things going on, and I want to start spending

more time with my kids. ‘That’s the bottom line,’ he said.

Ciarelli has coached the program for the past 16 years, and since

1992, shared coaching duties with his wife, Cami, who also stepped down

from her post.

‘It was getting to be real tough to get home in time to see my kids

play youth sports,’ Ciarelli said of his children Felicia, 11, and Tony,

9. ‘Volleyball was taking up, as you’d expect, a majority of my time, and

I just thought, for now, that it was time to step away from it and devote

more time to the family.

Owens is no stranger to Huntington Beach volleyball, himself having

played for the Oilers during the 1980s.

He has served as Ciarelli’s assistant for the past 10 years, and

also played under his tutelage.

‘I think the program is under real good hands with Isaac,’ Ciarelli

said. ‘This is a good team he has coming up, and it will exciting to see

them play.

‘I’ll be popping in and out of the gym from time to time, but for

now, my family is my focus. After this next year, I’ll re-evaluate the

whole situation, then take it from there and make a decision whether or

not to come back. But, I’ll probably be back. We’ll see.’