Seeds planted for an October day

Attending the Mission Conference Central Division Football Media

Day Thursday provided my first glimpse up close of Orange Coast

College football, and a smooth transition into the school’s sports

beat which I will be writing a weekly column about.

Coast’s starting sophomore linebacker Dan Steinau candidly

responded to the comments made by Golden West sophomore linebacker

Nick Tucker, who said Golden West’s 35-24 win over the Pirates last

season gave the Rustlers inspiration heading into 2002, especially

toward Oct. 26 when the two teams battle at OCC to kickoff conference

play.

Tucker was not shy in his enthusiasm heading into this season.

“Losing is not an option this season, we’re bringing a lot to the

table this year,” Tucker said. “That (35-24 win over OCC) made me

want to beat them again this year. People need to take Golden West

football seriously.”

When Steinau took the podium after OCC Head Coach Mike Taylor

spoke about the Pirates’ upcoming season, he smiled and quickly

responded to Tucker’s comments.

“That hurt me in the heart,” Steinau said, as the coaches,

players, sports information directors and members of the media

gathered at the El Torito restaurant in Westminster chuckled. “I’m

now looking forward to the (Golden West) game.”

After winning just 10 games the past seven years, Golden West

brings back former coach Ray Shackleford, who stepped aside as coach

of the Rustlers in 1994.

About 94 players were still out practicing for Golden West this

past week, Shackleford said.

“We’re a faster football team and a more physical football team

than Golden West has been,” he said. “We will run the football better

than the past five years.”

Mark Oct. 26 on your calendars.

A preseason poll of the Mission Football Conference Central

Division’s coaches, sports information directors and media

sportswriters picked OCC to finish fourth in the conference this

season. The Pirates finished 1-4 in the conference in 2001 in a

three-way tie with Golden West and Santa Ana.

The panel selected Palomar College as the team to beat in 2002.

The Comets received 16 of a possible 18-first-place votes to take

the top spot. The Comets went 5-0 in Central Division play last year

and finished 10-2 overall, losing to City College of San Francisco in

the state championship game.

The coaches, sportswriters and sports information directors picked

Saddleback to finish second followed by Fullerton, OCC, Golden West

and Santa Ana, respectively.

* Sandy (Zubrin) Cruttenden, the former diving standout from

Corona del Mar High, said she’s interested in coaching Orange Coast

College divers.

She contacted the school in the spring and spoke with area high

school seniors to see if they would be interested in diving at OCC.

“I made great progress,” Cruttenden said. “I was recruiting local

seniors to see if they would like to dive at OCC in the spring.”

OCC hasn’t had a formal diving coach since Bob Wilson retired four

years ago, said the school’s athletic director, Fred Hokanson.

“Right now we don’t have the staff to coach diving. Recruiting

athletes is the main thing,” Hokanson said.

Hokanson spoke with the Pirates’ girls water polo coach Don Watson

before Watson left on sabbatical.

“(Watson) thought we were going to have some divers this year,

that’s all I know,” said Hokanson, who hasn’t spoken with either

Watson or OCC swimming coach Dave Salo about a diving coach.

Calls placed to both Watson’s and Salo’s cell phones went

unreturned Friday.

“It’s like the pole vault in track and field, you still have the

pole vault in the competition, but we’re just not coaching it,”

Hokanson said. “We’ve always had diving, just no one to coach it.”

* As the seasons change from the long, hazy days of summer to the

hopefully cooler days of fall, my role at the Pilot changes slightly

as well.

This column marks the first of my junior college columns and I

look forward to meeting all the coaches, athletes and administrators

at Orange Coast and attending the games and matches.

I will still be responsible for youth sports as well as Pop Warner

and AYSO soccer swing into action, so keep those game reports coming.