Boys basketball: Orris steps down at Corona del Mar

Barry Faulkner

CORONA DEL MAR - Paul Orris, who 15 seasons ago became what he

termed “the custodian” of the Corona del Mar High boys basketball

program, said Monday he will hand the keys to someone else.

Orris, 53, submitted his resignation to school administrators after a

31-year CdM coaching career, including 16 seasons guiding the freshman

team. He will continue to teach math at the school. He said he will take

at least one season off from basketball, but did not rule out a possible

return, perhaps to coach the CdM freshman team.

“I still enjoy working with the kids, but there is a list of things

that have kind of accumulated,” Orris said of his reasons for stepping

down. “The 12-months-a-year proposition that all sports have gravitated

into, especially basketball, requires coaches to go from the regular

season to spring, to summer, to fall. Philosophically, I just have some

problems with that. And it’s more than just coaching. It’s running a

program, scheduling, cleaning the gym and a variety of things that have

just become too much.”

Orris, the Newport-Mesa District career victories leader, was 229-199

in 15 varsity seasons, including CIF Southern Section Division IV-AA

championships in 1992-93 and 1994-95. His teams won three league titles

and were section runners-up in their division three times. He was 29-10

in Southern Section playoff games, including 12 trips to the postseason.

His teams advanced past the first round in all but one of those playoff

runs and he competed in the state playoffs six times, winning three

games. Only four of his teams had a losing record and four of his squads

won at least 20 games, topped by a 24-7 mark in his first varsity season.

He also coached the South in the Orange County All-Star Game in 1995.

His final team finished 12-17, including a trip to the CIF Division

III-AA quarterfinals. Despite the losing record, however, many believe

Orris did his finest coaching in years. The Sea Kings won 6 of 17

preleague games, but won their first three Pacific Coast League contests.

The second round of league was highlighted by a dramatic 84-82 victory at

PCL co-champion University Feb. 6. Before that game, Orris, much to the

surprise of rival coaches, decided to abandon his trademark structured

offensive approach to run with the up-tempo Trojans.

“I think someone needs to come in with a new outlook and a new energy

and focus,” said Orris, who declined comment on a possible successor.

Orris’ varsity assistant the last few seasons has been Gordon McNeill,

who teaches at CdM. Orris said he did not know whether McNeill, who

starred at UC San Diego as a player and later played professionally in

Australia, would have an interest in the position.

Orris said he will miss the competition, but, with retirement

approaching, he needs to develop other interests.

“I still really enjoy basketball. I still like watching the game and

seeing different strategies and I’ll still do that. But, right now, I

just think I need to take a step back.

“I don’t have a whole lot of hobbies. Maybe other basketball coaches

do, but I don’t know how you can. I’m looking at retirement in another 10

years and, from that standpoint, it’s a little scary looking at what I’d

do when I didn’t have basketball. There’s a tutorial math program after

school I’ll probably get involved with. I do a lot of gardening at home,

but there’s only so much of that to be done. I used to do a lot of

singing in choirs and I may get back into that.”

Orris always credited much of his basketball philosophy -- including

hard-nosed man-to-man defense and a structured offensive system built on

unselfishness and good shot selection -- to former CdM head coaches Tandy

Gillis and the late Jack Errion.

“When I fulfilled Errion’s wish to succeed him, I sure didn’t want to

be the guy to screw up the winning tradition we had at CdM,” Orris said.

In recent years, when the Sea Kings went away from exclusively playing

man-to-man defense, Orris chose to call his zone configuration a “matchup

man-to-man,” citing deference to Errion’s dim view of playing zone.

When asked to reflect on his coaching tenure, Orris, always one to

maintain perspective, didn’t focus on the championships.

“Certainly, you remember the championships, but I remember some

individual moments of competition. My second year here, I took a freshman

group that had never won a basketball game in junior high. We lost our

first four, then we won one and I remember a kid coming up to me after

that first win and telling me that was the first time he’d won playing

organized basketball. And, I remember other moments, when guys stepped up

and made big plays.”

Orris said he will remember his final varsity team fondly, as well.

“I was really pleased about how far the guys came, from being very

inexperienced to achieving throughout the year. Even that last game (a

60-54 loss to No.2-seeded San Dimas) was a great reflection of the kind

of basketball I’ve always expected at CdM. They competed and left it all

on the floor.

“Sometimes, you come away from a victory feeling bad, but that loss

was one Gordon and I really felt good about.”

Don Martin, pricipal at CdM until recently taking a position at the

district office, said Orris will be missed.

“The thing that stands out for me is his professionalism,” Martin

said. “He was a stable influence for kids on the court and in the

classroom. I think he helped kids focus on the team, rather than

individual glory and the performance of his kids on the court reflected

that.

“In seven years of watching CdM basketball, I very seldom remember

Paul’s teams losing to someone they should have beaten. And they won a

few people didn’t expect them to. I’d say there was maybe one time that

his team didn’t look totally prepared and ready and that’s a pretty high

compliment.”