Explanations needed about coach firing

Something clearly isn’t right in the athletic department at Costa

Mesa High School.

As was detailed in a three-part investigation by the Daily Pilot

sports staff, a number of coaches have either quit or been fired, the

reasons at times vague, unclear and even approaching unbelievable.

Bob Serven started the exodus on April 3 when he resigned as boys’

basketball coach. Initially he said he made the change to spend more

time with his family; recently he has acknowledged he also left

because of a lack of summer pay for coaches and the frustrations that

came from the joint-use agreement for fields and facilities between

the city and the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.

In late June, Doug Deats resigned as baseball coach, and Glenn

Mitchell stepped down as boys’ and girls’ track and field coach. Both

cite family reasons for their decision.

Then, just a week ago, football coach Dave Perkins -- who had

ceased being athletic director on July 1 -- was fired, only weeks

before the season is set to begin. Perkins says the reason was a

misunderstanding with school administrators over a check from a

summer football camp that was mistakenly made out to him.

If that really is why Perkins is out -- leaving a squad of players

rudderless just when the program was on the upswing -- it isn’t good

enough. Not when three coaches have preceded him out the door. Not

when there are questions about how the city’s fields are being used,

or misused, and whether coaches are being paid appropriately for

their time and effort.

But district officials are refusing to say why they fired Perkins.

That tactic may be fair to Perkins, but it isn’t fair to his players

or the community. While they are not legally bound to explain their

actions, they should want to give an indication of their reasons in

order to stop the guessing and rumors their silence is creating.

Perkins, as anyone who has followed high school football in

Newport-Mesa knows, has angered more than a few people during his

coaching years. In May 2001, he jumped from Estancia High School,

where he’d just guided the Eagles to the playoffs, to the cross-town

rival Mustangs. A handful of players transferred with him, including

Matt Colby, who died in September 2001 after suffering injuries in a

game. There was talk about the possible “extra effort” his team put

in during the 2002 Battle of the Bell contest between Costa Mesa’s

two high schools, a game Costa Mesa High won 41-0. The team retained

the title last year by the same score.

Did any of these factors, or others, play into Perkins’ firing? If

so, school administrators, beginning with Principal Fred Navarro,

should say. And they should say sooner rather than later -- before

the worst of the rumors are repeated so often that they become the

perceived truth.

Yes, there seem to be many things that aren’t right at Costa Mesa

High. The biggest problem, though, might simply be that the community

is being kept from knowing just what is going wrong.