Fond farewell

Mike Sciacca

It’s has been a bittersweet week for Shawn Patchell.

As he finished his last day Thursday by helping run the Boys and

Girls Volleyball Clinics at Laguna Beach High, Patchell found himself

holding court in Dugger Gym one last time.

For the past six years, he has roamed the sideline as head coach

of the school’s boys’ and girls’ volleyball programs. Next month,

though, a new coach, Curt Hanson, will run the show.

That’s because Patchell has accepted a position as an assistant

coach with the men’s volleyball program at his alma mater, Brigham

Young University in Provo, Utah.

Patchell, his wife, Davis, and three daughters, ranging in age

from three months to six years, have already packed up their Aliso

Viejo home and are heading for Provo.

“I’ve thought about a lot of things these past few weeks and I

know I’m going to miss this,” Patchell said of his time spent at

Laguna Beach High. “This is an opportunity at BYU that I could not

pass up. In a way, I’m going home.”

After graduating from Irvine High, where he played baseball and

basketball, before dropping baseball to play volleyball his junior

year, Patchell went to BYU to play basketball, but ended up on the

volleyball court.

It was a good move for him -- and the Cougars -- as Patchell, a

middle blocker, was named an Academic All-American his junior year.

He also led the country in hitting percentage that same year.

As a senior, BYU, at one point in during the 1993 season, was ranked fourth nationally.

It was also there where he met his future wife, Davis.

“Provo holds a lot of special memories for me, as does Laguna

Beach,” he said.

Following a pro volleyball career that saw him play overseas for a

season in Spain on the Canary Islands, Patchell returned to the U.S.

and worked on his teaching credential. He got that credential, along

with a master’s degree in English literature, from UC Irvine.

He first began teaching at Irvine and coached the Vaqueros girls’

varsity basketball team. By chance, that team was playing in a

tournament at Laguna Beach, against Laguna Beach. He says it was then

that he heard of an opening for the boys’ volleyball program.

He was hired as the Artists’ boys’ head coach and coached at

Laguna Beach for one year, while still teaching at Irvine.

“I don’t think they were thrilled with that setup at Irvine,” he

chuckled.

Patchell soon was at Laguna Beach full time and eventually took

over the girls’ volleyball program, as well.

“He had tremendous success here,” Laguna Beach Athletic Director

Mario Morales said. “Shawn had a great way with his players and he

really is going to be missed. We wish him well.”

Under Patchell’s direction, Laguna Beach continued to add to the

school’s illustrious, tradition-rich volleyball program.

In six years his girls’ squads won five league championships, and

the boys’ teams captured four titles. Twice his girls’ teams reached

a CIF championship final (1999, 2001), and the boys made it there

also in 1999, he said.

“Having played prep volleyball in Orange County, I was well aware

of Laguna’s tradition,” he said. “When you look at all the previous

league titles, CIF playoff appearances and Olympians who have come

out of Laguna Beach High, it is awe-inspiring, at first.”

Although that was his game plan, Patchell had success throughout

his six years as head coach. Still, he says, success began at

practice.

“Just improving, running a really good practice, those things mean

success, to me,” he said.

Patchell says he has thought about many things as he went about

recently packing up his classroom and office, getting ready for a new

venture. He has packed away plenty of fond memories, too.

“To me, my time at Laguna Beach High was all about the

relationships built with student athletes on and off the court,” he

added. “Some of my favorite teams were the ones who didn’t even make

it to the CIF finals.”

* MIKE SCIACCA covers sports for the Laguna Beach Coastline

Pilot. He can be reached at 494-4321 or by e-mail at

michael.sciacca@latimes.com.