CdM football job is a hot gig

When a coaching job opens at Corona del Mar High, it tends to create a stir.

But the school’s most recent vacancy — its head football coaching position — has practically generated a storm.

But that’s really no surprise at a school that’s so steeped in competition it forgoes hanging league championship banners for the more prestigious CIF Southern Section title banners.

With football, the effect is magnified. The program takes up more money and more time than any of the Sea Kings’ other athletic ventures.

As Athletic Director Paul Orris said, the football coach plays an enormous role in determining the culture and atmosphere of the school.

That coach will be named among 11 candidates, who remain in line for the sought-after gig. Orris said CdM has narrowed the list of choices to 11 and they are set to come in for interviews during the first week of February, beginning Feb. 4. None of the 11 work within the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.

Ideally, CdM wants a coach who will teach at the school.

“There will probably be two or three rounds [of interviews] after the first round,” Orris said. “We will probably wait a little because right now we don’t know the teaching position that will be open.”

Orris said the interview board consists of five people, including himself. It’s made up of the CdM administration and does not include students or booster-club members.

Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson said his offensive coordinator, Dave Money, was indirectly approached about applying for the head coach position at CdM.

Money declined, but Rollinson said he could see why Corona del Mar could be an attractive school for coaches.

“I would immediately think well, that’s one attraction, that they’re at the top of the pay scale,” Rollinson said.

“What I do know is CdM is tradition-rich. Obviously, it has been solid in football. Other sports, they’ve had success with championships in aquatics, tennis, and track and field.”

Rollinson added, “I hope they hire away some of the guys I’ve got to coach against.”

Tesoro Coach Brian Barnes, the former head man at Estancia, also spoke highly of the CdM football coaching job.

“I think they have some great opportunities,” said Barnes, who led the Titans to a 7-4 record and a South Coast League championship in his first year. “It’s a great opportunity. In that division, you can win a lot of games. It’s a lot easier to win in that division than in the Pac-5.”

Barnes also touched on rumors that had him taking the Sea Kings’ job, saying that he had been getting numerous calls from many people if they were true.

“If it was a year ago, I would have loved to be at CdM,” Barnes said. “But, I’m happy where I am at. I’m not going anywhere.”

Asked if he were approached by representatives of the school about his interest in the job, Barnes had no comment.

Though Corona del Mar hasn’t started the interview process yet, Orris already knows what the school is looking for.

Head-coaching experience isn’t required, he said, so long as the person knows what it takes to run a high school program and work with the community.

“Being concerned with the kids from an academic standpoint, being able to promote them if they want to go on and play at another level, being aware of what’s going on in kids’ lives and offer support and counseling [are important],” Orris said.

Working with the community, particularly with parents, could be a double-edged sword for the new football coach.

While an affluent parent base is great to have when upgrades to facilities are needed, the job also seems to require a coach who can be a bit of a politician.

Former football coach Dick Freeman, who led the program for 11 years before he was forced out by the school’s administration, told the Daily Pilot in December: “The atmosphere around here with the parents would have made it impossible for me to get anything done [had he continued]. I don’t think I had a problem with the players, and it wasn’t all the parents, because I had some good parents. But there were a few who apparently were the decision makers, who didn’t like what I was doing.”

CdM asked Freeman to help with the hiring process, but the former coach said he politely declined. He continues to teach earth science at the school, but he is planning to get back into coaching. Calvary Chapel, where his friend Lyle Landsdell is the head coach, is a possibility, he said. Freeman plans on being an assistant.

“I had enough of that,” Freeman said of being a head coach. “There’s only a certain amount of slapping you can take and I have taken enough.”

There seems to be a high standard at CdM where the Sea Kings concentrate on the CIF banners rather than league results.

But what is it about a small, little school with less than 1,600 students nestled in Newport Beach that attracts so much success?

“It’s a great school academically,” said boys’ basketball coach Ryan Schachter, who led CdM to a CIF Division III-A championship in his first year. “It’s tradition-rich in athletics history. Most schools hang league banners. CdM only hangs CIF championship banners. “When you have that kind of mix, you’re always going to have competitive teams. It’s a good, desirable location, and there’s good athletes that come through the school even though it’s a small school.”

When Schachter, now in his second season at Corona del Mar, elected to leave Costa Mesa High to coach the Sea Kings, there were a number of factors that drew him there.

One was resources.

“You have parents that are very affluent in the area so you can do what you need to do,” Schachter said. “If we want to travel, we have a little more opportunity. A lot of coaches bring in outside strength and conditioning coaches and advisors. When you’ve got these resources, you can give more opportunity for the players to be more successful. You’re able to have the kids be better trained and better prepared. All of that is a recipe for success.”

The other reason Schachter gave was stability.

As a coach at Costa Mesa, Schachter said he had two different principals in two years, and watched as the school hired its third football coach in the same length of time.

“All of that comes into play,” Schachter said. “Costa Mesa was a great place for me personally. I had a great time with the parents and the program. But looking at Corona del Mar and the stability of it, they always have competitive teams. They’re going to have competitive teams no matter what, even in down years.”

Still, even a recipe for success can’t always fully compete with an Orange County powerhouse such as Mater Dei.

The schools compete in completely separate divisions, but they draw athletes from the same pool.

Mater Dei junior quarterback Matt Barkley, the Gatorade National Player of the Year who verbally committed to USC on Wednesday, actually lives within CdM’s district.

“It’s frustrating,” Schachter said. “One of their linemen is a Newport Beach guy. It is a bit frustrating knowing that we’re missing out on a pool but in every city you have private or parochial schools that parents want to send their child to for whatever reason. I can guarantee the reason is definitely not academic when it comes to Newport Beach schools. In this case, the decision is either religion-based or athletic-based, or a combination of both. Some families want their child exposed to a religious-based education, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Anyone who comes into the new job will have to accept the fact up front that Corona del Mar parents are highly involved with the school’s athletics, Schachter said. That’s just the way it is.

“You have a lot of parents who are highly successful at whatever field they’re in, whether it be business or law, or whatever they do and they want to see that for their kids,” said Schachter, who has a young daughter. “That’s what they’re used to. That’s what’s normal: success, winning. Why should that be different just because it’s sports?

“There’s more pressure for performance. Personally, I don’t mind, and I’m sure most coaches will tell you they don’t mind, but there’s a lot more judgment with that than there is at other places. That’s another element that comes into play with the program.”

— Steve Virgen contributed to this story

SORAYA NADIA McDONALD may be reached at (714) 966-4613 or at soraya.mcdonald@latimes.com.