Mark Hill

Bryce Alderton

Former Orange Coast College men’s basketball coach Mark Hill can’t

seem to stay away from coastal Orange County.

The 45-year-old, who lives in Anaheim Hills with wife Debi, is a

physical education instructor by day at Esperanza High -- where he

led a resurgent boys basketball program from 1988-96. But by 1:40

each weekday afternoon, he is on the road, headed to Laguna Beach

High.

The El Toro High grad who played three years in Lucerne,

Switzerland, as a guard for the Reussbuhl-Basket team, is in his

first year guiding the Laguna Beach boys varsity team, which was 4-5

as of Dec. 20, including winning the consolation championship of the

La Quinta tournament. The Breakers reached the fifth-place game of

the Irvine World News tournament, which featured county strongholds

Mater Dei and Woodbridge, even with two of their starters -- 6-foot-5

senior Austin Sands and freshman guard Cheyne Martin -- out because

of illness.

“I’ve enjoyed it so far,” said Hill, who amassed a 29-31 record

from 1999-2001 at OCC, where he was an assistant for two years

(1997-99) under Tim O’Brien, now the head boys coach at Northwood.

“It is challenging because the [Laguna Beach] program hasn’t been

successful the last few years, but we’re trying to turn that around,”

Hill said. The Breakers have won one league title the past 36 seasons

(1999).

Hill’s coaching philosophy hasn’t changed much. He wants his kids

to be coachable while instilling discipline and helping his players

maintain a solid work ethic.

“It doesn’t focus on winning or losing, but getting all the guys

to be accountable and have respect. If we do that, we will be

successful,” Hill said.

Success has closely followed Hill. He led Esperanza to three

Sunset League titles in his last five years at the school and his

final seven Aztec teams qualified for the playoffs.

The Pirates made the playoffs all four years he was at Orange

Coast.

“[Coaching] junior college basketball is different because you are

only working with your set of kids,” Hill said. “In high school, you

have [junior varsity] and freshmen teams [to attend to].

Laguna Beach -- with an enrollment of about 650 students -- pales

in comparison to the nearly 3,000 kids at Esperanza.

“We don’t get 40 kids coming out for freshman basketball. We might

have 12 kids on the freshman team and that is a problem,” Hill said.

“But, it is all relative. The parents have been supportive and happy

with what is going on and that is what makes it worthwhile.”

Working along the coast is also appealing.

“It is a fun area,” he said.

All signs point toward progress at Laguna in Hill’s view. The

Breakers will be among the teams battling Corona del Mar in the

Pacific Coast League.

“We have exceeded expectations so far with two starters out,” he

said. “There is a lot of upside to this team with a lot of growth

left.”