Golf:

Newport Harbor High senior Travis Russell is off to the University of Hawaii at Hilo next year on a full-ride golf scholarship and his coach played a key part.

Russell, in his third season on Newport’s boys’ golf team, said Scott Tarnow was instrumental in gearing him toward college and life after high school.

Russell is among students Tarnow, in his 10th year coaching both boys’ and girls’ golf at Newport, has reached in some way.

Tarnow’s story is one of the “right place, right time” scenarios, and through the steps, he says he’s found a home at Newport Harbor as instructor and coach.

Tarnow, 40, acknowledges it’s been a learning process coaching golf, but it has reaped dividends. Sailor girls’ teams are 61-10 in the last four years and the boys had what Tarnow calls their “best team ever” in 2009 when Newport reached the CIF Team final for the first time in school history. This year the boys are 8-2, 2-0 in the Sunset League.

And Tarnow was acknowledged as the National Section Seven Coach of the Year for 2008-09 by the National Federation of State High School Associations. He said he read the letter four times to make sure he was receiving the award.

“It was totally unexpected,” Tarnow said.

The best way to describe how he got the job at Newport is connections.

And how he became golf coach is “ridiculous” as Tarnow, a Huntington Beach resident and former pitcher, said.

Tarnow didn’t play golf a lot growing up. He played for two months when he was 12, but not again until college when a friend worked at a golf course and invited him to play.

Tarnow played baseball one year each for College of the Desert and Chaffey College. He had an in for playing baseball at Chapman University but opted instead to focus on his studies.

“Playing baseball wasn’t enough of a benefit,” Tarnow said.

He thought of being a fireman, Emergency Medical Technician and history teacher. He even managed an apartment complex for a time and one of his tenants, Kay Moore, was a special education teacher who showed him students in classrooms.

Tarnow earned both his bachelor’s and Master’s degrees [history and education, respectively] from Cal State Fullerton. It was there he took a class from Candy Barela, a current zone coordinator for Newport-Mesa Unified School District, who helped Tarnow get an interview at Newport Harbor.

Tarnow said that within the first five minutes of the interview, he knew Newport Harbor was “where [he] was supposed to be.”

Prior to his Newport Harbor interview, Tarnow interviewed for a junior high position at another school. But Tarnow said he felt he wasn’t supposed to be there.

He spent the first six years at Newport as a special day class teacher, working with lower-performing students and teaching them math, science, history.

For the last four years, Tarnow has been a teacher for the Resource Specialist Program. Students in the RSP program generally have higher IQ’s and smaller gaps in expected and actual academic performance than kids in the special day program.

Newport senior Preston Wheeler has been on varsity since sophomore season and said Tarnow is “dedicated” and focuses on attitude and how it reflects the team.

“He’s always there for every golfer – education, academic-wise, playing-wise, he’s got it covered,” Wheeler said.

And the time continues – 10 years and running.

Tarnow’s foray into coaching came about after he walked into Jim Warren’s office. Tarnow told Warren, head varsity coach at the time, he would be interested in a golf coaching position should one open up. Well, Warren told Tarnow on the eve of the season-opener that the freshman coach quit. Tarnow stepped into the role.

Then, two weeks later, Warren resigned and Tarnow stepped in to coach alongside Marianne Towersey. He is now the head coach of both boys’ and girls’ teams.

“[Coaching] is definitely a learning process, but the last four years have been insane as far as the competitive level,” Tarnow said. “It’s always easier when you have talent.”

Newport’s boys’ team was 7-2 after their Sunset League-opening victory against Fountain Valley Thursday.

Newport junior Zach Eddy is in his second year on varsity and acknowledges Tarnow’s calm demeanor.

“He’s a down-to-earth coach … and keeps a relaxed atmosphere,” Eddy said.

Tarnow said he had an offer to become a financial analyst three or four years ago, but declined.

“There are so many ways you can inspire and pump up [children] by being real and honest,” Tarnow said. “I truly love Newport Harbor.”