CIF approves expanding to five bowl games

The CIF Federated Council gave approval Friday to continue the state championship bowl games after holding a two-year pilot program. It also agreed to expand the bowl games from three divisions to five, effective next season.

Still to be decided by June are specifics regarding logistics, such as event dates, sites and what changes might be made in the selection process to the games that match Southern California representatives against Northern California representatives.

“I’m excited about the Federated Council’s decision to increase the football championships to five divisions,” CIF Executive Director Marie Ishida said in a statement. “Now the work begins. We will be sending out RFPs [request for proposals] for a location or locations for the games. What develops from those proposals will help dictate the format of the event in terms of whether the games take place at single or multiple sites.”

The three division championship games were held on the same day at the Home Depot Center in Carson each of the last two years.

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Lou Randall, who won his second consecutive Southern Section Eastern Division title in the fall, was released as football coach at Riverside North.

Principal Dale Kinnear said he was hoping to elevate the program as it prepares to move into a new league this fall with the former Mountain View League members, including Division I state bowl finalist Corona Centennial.

Getting more athletes into four-year colleges is one area that Kinnear would like to see improved, he said. Centennial is expected to have as many as four players sign Division I scholarships next month.

“I would like to see a level of greatness on and off the field,” said Kinnear.

In addition to going 27-1 while winning the back-to-back section titles, the Huskies also won the Division V championship in 2003 under Randall, who was 53-12 overall at the school.

Randall, who previously coached at Chino Hills Ayala, Chino, Garden Grove and Moreno Valley Canyon Springs, was expected to remain as a physical education teacher at the school. He did not return calls seeking comment.

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Eagle Rock Principal Salvador Velasco finally broke his silence on his relieving Jerry Chou of his head football coaching duties Jan. 12, saying “it was not possible” for Chou to get his job back.

Whether spurred by a morning walkout by an estimated 400 protesting students or the continued requests from alumni to explain his decision, Velasco told The Times that he had not fired Chou but instead had accepted a resignation tendered by the coach in October. Velasco then decided he would not accept Chou’s change of mind.

Velasco said he met with Eagle Rock’s assistant coaches Tuesday and offered the head position to Michael McKay and Steve Wahl. Velasco said he was waiting for an answer from either coach by the end of the school day Friday. “If they decline, then on Monday I will start looking for a replacement,” he said.

Velasco also said he offered Chou an assistant coaching position with the football team, but Chou declined.

When contacted, Chou said McKay, Wahl and his other former assistants met last Friday and voted unanimously that no one would accept the head job. “They felt it would be wrong to do so,” Chou said.

He added that after meeting with Velasco on Tuesday, he shook hands with his principal with the full understanding that he had no chance to return as the Eagles’ head coach.

“[Velasco] said the decision was final and I’ve accepted that,” Chou said. “In my mind, I have told myself I am no longer the coach and won’t be because that decision was made by the principal. He’s the boss and I’m going to move on.”

All parties agree that Chou tendered his resignation in October, doing so in protest of Velasco’s handling of a dispute between varsity basketball Coach Ron Kato and freshman-sophomore Coach Drew Lord. Kato was the only one of the two disciplined by Velasco, Chou said.

Chou rescinded his resignation, but he was subsequently suspended a week, returning for the Nov. 2 game against Los Angeles Wilson. He coached the remainder of the season, which ended Nov. 15 with a first-round playoff loss to Huntington Park.

Chou said he did not know that Velasco had not accepted his offer to rescind his resignation until January, when he discovered his name was not among the football coaches working with the team during the spring semester.

Velasco said he told Chou he would not be retained as football coach in writing on Oct. 31. Chou disputes this, saying he has a letter from Velasco reinstating him as coach for the Wilson game. The letter, Chou said, says nothing about his rescinded resignation not being accepted.

Chou called Eagle Rock “my dream job, the place where I was hoping to end my career.”

He first coached at the school as an assistant in 1994-95, and returned as an assistant in 2002. He became head coach in 2004 and compiled a 43-7 record in four seasons, including City Invitational Division championships in 2005 and 2006.

Eagle Rock finished 10-0 during the regular season last fall, extending a school-record winning streak to 22 games before being upset by Huntington Park in the first round of the Invitational playoffs.

At the beginning of Friday’s student protest, Velasco warned students over the school’s PA system to return to class or face disciplinary actions. The rally ended peacefully, according to witnesses, and Velasco met with approximately 150 students in the school’s auditorium at lunchtime.

“It was important for us to talk,” the principal said. “They are not satisfied if Coach Chou is not their coach. I told them that was not possible at this time.”

Chou, who previously said he would remain as a teacher at the school for now but plans to seek another football coaching position, said he was “caught off guard” by the emotional rally.

“It was a pleasant surprise,” he said. “I had told kids not to do it. But that the kids believe in me… . That is a good feeling.”

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Mike Terry