HIGH SCHOOLS:

A week since Larry Hirst coached his last Newport Harbor High boys’ basketball game, it sure seems like he’s still the coach.

“I’ve been doing a lot of things,” said Hirst, who plans to take a one-year sabbatical to spend more time with his family. “I’m crunching numbers, getting the banquet ready. It still doesn’t feel like I’m out of a job.

“I’ve got a meeting Monday with the principal [Michael Vossen] and [assistant] principal [David Martinez]. [Vossen] just wrote me an e-mail saying, ‘Let’s talk about this.’ I don’t know whether I’ll get fired, or if he’ll tell me to think about my decision more.”

Hirst said he’s positive he will take next year off after guiding the Sailors the last 13 years. The season ended faster than expected with Newport Harbor losing at home to Huntington Beach, 62-54, in the first-round of the CIF Southern Section Division I-A playoffs on Feb. 15.

It really hasn’t hit Hirst that he’ll be watching his son, Tanner, play basketball as a sophomore at Hirst’s alma mater, Edison High, next winter. That time of year Hirst is usually busy leading Newport Harbor during the regular season and the playoffs.

That was the case this year as the Sailors (17-10, 7-3 in the Sunset League) qualified for the postseason for the 12th straight year under Hirst.

No successor has been named to take over for Hirst, who has a 223-126 career record at Newport Harbor.

Both of Hirst’s assistants, Bob Torribio and Gary Robinson, said they were interested in the position. Hirst said he will learn Monday whether the school will consider each assistant, who has never been a head varsity coach, or open the job in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District and to the public.

Both Torribio and Robinson are former Newport Harbor guards and they also teach history at the school.

“What a coincidence?” Robinson said.

There are differences between the two. Robinson, a 1999 graduate, turned 27 on Sunday, making him younger than the 30-year-old Torribio, a 1995 grad.

Torribio also has more coaching experience than Robinson.

Torribio, who has been coaching at Newport Harbor for seven years, has focused on the varsity level the last three years, making him Hirst’s right-hand man. During that time the Sailors are 54-29, have two second-place showings in the competitive Sunset League, and one in the Sea View League, Newport Harbor’s old league.

Robinson, in his fifth year coaching at Newport Harbor, has been the junior varsity head coach the last three seasons. Robinson said he has guided the program to back-to-back second-place finishes in league.

Torribio and Robinson said the two haven’t discussed among themselves much about the possibility of landing their dream job. In regard to holding the job if Hirst returns, which could be anywhere from one year to three years with his son being a freshman, their answers differed.

“If I’m fortunate to have the job and then he wants to come back, I would continue to be his assistant,” Torribio said. “I’ve become more of a friend during my time with him. I think he will come back. [Coaching] is in his blood. His family knows how much he loves Newport Harbor.”

Robinson said it would be a tough spot to be in if he got hired and Hirst decided to return.

“What every coach wants to do is put his own mark on a program,” Robinson said. “I respect Larry a lot. He coached me. He taught me basketball. I got a long ways to go to be coach.

“But if I got it, I would want to leave on my own terms.”

CALDWELL GETS OFFERS

After a stellar boys’ basketball season, Newport Harbor 6-foot-9, 220-pound senior center Kyle Caldwell has gotten the attention of some solid NCAA Division I college basketball programs.

Washington State, currently ranked No. 17 by the Associated Press, UC Santa Barbara, Princeton and Southern Methodist University have contacted Caldwell, who has already committed to play volleyball at UCLA next year.

Caldwell was named Co-MVP in the competitive Sunset League after averaging 21.9 points, 13.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game.

“I was pretty flattered, but as of right now, I’m sticking with UCLA,” said Caldwell, a setter, considered one of the top prep volleyball players in the country. “I’d love to play [basketball in college]. I might try to walk on at UCLA.”

PALMER SET TO RETURN

The last conversation Costa Mesa Boys’ Athletic Director Tim Postiff had with his boys’ basketball coach Kevin Palmer was a good one.

“He told me he was coming back,” Postiff said.

Palmer will return for a second year. The first one was a rebuilding one as the Mustangs finished 1-26, 1-8 in the Orange Coast League.

Palmer is optimistic Costa Mesa will bounce back from its worst season in school history.

Eight players are expected to return, including junior guard Mikey Molina, a second-team All-Orange Coast League selection.

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at david.carrillo@latimes.com.