Boys cross country, track: Kay taking over

Barry Faulkner

NEWPORT BEACH - In what promises to be one of the smoothest

coaching transitions in Newport-Mesa prep history, longtime Newport

Harbor High cross country and track and field assistant Nowell Kay will

step into the head-coaching void left in both programs by the resignation

of Bim Barry.

Barry stepped down to take a job at a school in Lima, Peru.

Kay, a Newport Harbor alumnus (Class of 1980) who was a prep track and

field teammate of Barry, has coached the track and field program’s

jumpers and hurdlers since 1986. He has been a cross country assistant

since 1990, leaving him uniquely versed in the system that has produced

at least a share of the last five Sea View League cross country titles.

Kay, 40, a walk-on, said those looking for change will be

disappointed.

“You can’t really argue with success,” Kay said of the status quo,

which he vows to uphold. “I plan to approach the way we do workouts the

same as Bim did.”

Kay, however, said his coaching style may offer a slight contrast.

“Bim and I are both extremely competitive people,” Kay said. “But I

might be a little more low key.”

Kay, a Costa Mesa resident who works as a caterer, said he is both

aware and respectful of the high expectations the recent success has

created for both programs. The Tars have won at least a share of the last

three Sea View League championships in track and field, as well.

“We expect to win our league every year and that won’t change,” he

said. “With Foothill joining the Sea View League next season, that should

create more of a challenge.”

Though eager to take on the challenge of running both programs, Kay

said he would also have been content to remain an assistant.

“I was never looking to go anywhere else and it was not like I had

aspirations to be a head coach,” he said. “But I’m ready to do this.

Continuity-wise, if I have any questions, I can always go to Eric (Tweit,

girls cross country and track and field coach and the school’s boys

athletic director), or I can always e-mail Bim in Peru.”

Kay’s reign will begin by overseeing the summer program, which starts

July 15.