Rausch lands at Concordia

Tommy Rausch had apologized so many times that his boss told him to stop.

Rausch had met with Jeff Perry, the Estancia High girls’ athletic director, to talk about his future in basketball.

It didn’t involve Estancia, where Rausch had been a part of both the boys’ and girls’ programs the last eight years as a coach.

Rausch said he has stepped down at Estancia, his alma mater, and has joined the Concordia University men’s basketball coaching staff as an assistant.

“It was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do,” said the 27-year-old of resigning after two years as the girls’ varsity basketball coach. “But this is a great opportunity for me.”

It was a break Rausch couldn’t pass up.

Perry understood why Rausch is moving on to Concordia, which finished 28-5 and advanced to the first round of the NAIA National Championship tournament last season.

“Jeff told me I didn’t have to keep on apologizing,” Rausch said for leaving. “I said ‘sorry’ like four times. I really meant it.”

Kassie Stratton, one of Rausch’s former players, said Rausch treated his walk-on job at Estancia as his top priority.

Rausch turned around the girls’ program after his first year. He led it to an 8-13 season, almost tripling the previous year’s wins. But in the second year, Estancia suffered a setback.

The team went 3-23 overall, 0-9 in the Orange Coast League.

Rausch said the losing had nothing to do with his decision to leave.

“Coaching on the college level has been something that I’ve wanted to do,” said Rausch, adding that he will be responsible for exchanging film, scouting and recruiting. “I will also get to go back to school and the school is going to pay for graduate school. I want to get my master’s in coaching and athletic administration.

“I’ll be passing by Estancia every time on my way to Concordia. I’m going to miss coaching at Estancia.”

Stratton said the school will miss Rausch as well.

Rausch also worked at Estancia as an instructional aid, a softball coach and assistant with the boys’ basketball team. He said he’s unsure if he’ll be able to coach softball in the spring due to his schedule at Concordia.

No successor to the girls’ job has been named as of yet, but both Rausch and Stratton are lobbying for Rausch’s former assistant, Xavier Castellano.

“He’s a little bit like Tommy, very funny,” said Stratton, a first-team All-Orange Coast League selection, who led Estancia by averaging 12.2 points per game last season. “I know he will yell a lot more than Tommy did and we’re going to need it with Tommy gone.”

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