Is Newbury Park’s Hurley going to retire as head coach?

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After 19 years at the helm, is Newbury Park Coach George Hurley [shown here after the Panthers’ victory over Westlake] thinking about retirement?

After his team’s amazing, 29-28 comeback victory over Valencia last week, he told me he was ‘getting too old for this’ and ‘I’m not sure how many more years I have left in me.’

I saw it more as on-the-fly commentary after what must have been an exhausting emotional roller coaster of a game.

However, after Hart‘s 37-6 victory over the Panthers in a Northern Division semifinal, Hurley told Ventura County Star reporter Loren Ledin that he’s thinking about stepping down as head coach, citing the team’s ‘great run ... could be a great way to go out.’ He could choose to stay, however, as the school’s athletic director.

If Hurley does choose to retire, it’ll mark the end of an era that included the Panthers’ only division title (1993) and six league championships. Also, in my experience, Hurley has always been a great guy to talk to and he never fails to put out a great quote or two after the game.

-- Austin Knoblauch

-- Special thanks to Times stats guru Eric Maddy for his help on this one.