Commanding respect, Henigan having a ball

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It’s good to see Terry Henigan smile. The Irvine coach is off to a 3-0 start, and it seems like ages since that’s happened. When I caught him a couple weeks ago, he said, ‘I’m having a ball,’ and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him so relaxed.

He says he has ‘good kids.’

‘We have a lot of kids who play a lot of sports, basketball, wrestlers, a real good lacrosse player,’ Henigan said, I think referring to his fullback/linebacker Jake Alleman. That’s important these days for Irvine, and for Henigan, who is the school’s athletic director.

The school is probably 1,200 students smaller than it was in the glory days, when Irvine won Southern Section titles in 1991, ’92 and ’93. It also won in 2000.

Now 3-0 after beating Costa Mesa, 37-0, the Vaqueros play Santa Ana Calvary Chapel Thursday at Orange Coast College, and it wouldn’t be surprising if they win that one and keep on winning. In fact, there’s a chance -- provided his players don’t start believing their blog clippings (bloppings???) -- that they could be undefeated when they play Laguna Hills in Week 10 for the Pacific Coast League title.

But Henigan remains cautious, as usual: ‘If we don’t take it one week at a time, there’s not a team in Orange County that can’t beat us.’

The other primary reason Henigan is having such a good time is that among the 16 coaches in his program, 12 are former players, a testament to the impact he had on their youth. Other coaches aren’t surprised.

‘A lot of guys got their start under him,’ said Kennedy Coach Mitch Olson. ‘He does things right. He doesn’t compromise. He makes kids into young men. Some coaches are losing sight of that, but he’s never wavered.’

- Martin Henderson