Cook to coach at Estancia

Barry Faulkner

COSTA MESA - Rick Cook, a varsity head coach for 24 of his 29-year

high school coaching career, has been named boys basketball coach at

Estancia High, Eagles Boys Athletic Director Tim Parsel announced Monday.

Cook, an assistant for Newport Harbor High Coach Larry Hirst last season,

after a 14-year tenure at Workman High in the City of Industry, replaces

Rich Boyce, who resigned after four seasons to become coach at Edison

High.

Cook, a 51-year-old Chino Hills resident, said he will continue to teach

physical education at Workman, until a teaching position opens at

Estancia. Parsel said that likely will not occur for at least a year.

Cook met with Estancia players for the first time Monday and will coach

them in tonight’s first summer league game, ironically, against Newport

Harbor.

In addition to his stint at Harbor, where Hirst praised Cook’s basketball

acumen as among the most impressive he’d ever been around, Newport-Mesa

District basketball rooters may remember Cook as the high school coach

and valued mentor of Jason Ferguson. Ferguson, a star guard at Workman,

died of cancer at age 24 in January, 1996, during his second season with

the Mustangs.

“It’s really kind of eerie,” Cook said. “The last game Jason coached

before he passed away was against Estancia.”

Cook, who witnessed the Sailors’ 56-54 nonleague loss to Estancia form

the bench last season, said he is aware of the Eagles’ proud basketball

tradition. That history includes a 1991 CIF State Division III

championship, the lone state basketball title won by a Newport-Mesa

school.

“I’m certainly not starting from scratch,” Cook said. “Rich Boyce has

done a fantastic job and a lot of the intangibles you need to have a good

program are already in place. Hopefully, I can just continue to build on

the good foundation others have left.”

Cook said the presence of Parsel, who preceded Boyce as coach and

continues to help coach the freshmen team, was a huge factor behind his

decision to accept the job. Cook also said he has been impressed by the

support offered by Principal Tom Antal.

“(Parsel and Antal) really made this decision a no-brainer,” Cook said.

“I know I’ll be working with people I like.”

Cook, whose playing career ended at Marshall University, began his prep

coaching career at his West Virginia-based alma mater, Logan High.

His 10 seasons as varsity coach at Logan included four state

championships and seven state title games, though Cook insisted on

deflecting credit for those accomplishments to his players.

After stints as an assistant at Winfield and Hurricane high schools in

West Virginia, Cook took the job at Workman, where he turned a

downtrodden program into a two-time league champion and a consistent CIF

playoff participant.

“I’ve been fortunate to be around some pretty smart basketball people,”

Hirst said. “But Rick is at least equal to them all. There were times

when we’d talk for three hours after practice and I’d be taking notes.”

Despite his successful track record, Cook said his primary emphasis is

not on winning.

“I’ve always said the purpose of high school athletics is not to win

games. The major purpose is to help kids make memories and help them

develop as people and become successful adults.”

Hirst, preferring not to compete against a close friend, said The Sailors

and Eagles have mutually agreed not to play each other, beginning next

year.