It’s been a long, yet rewarding, wait for Fabricius

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Obviously, Gary Fabricius is thrilled to know he’s trading in his old, sweat-stained Newbury Park offensive coordinator hat for a much shiner and better-smelling head coaching one. Fabricius found out Monday afternoon he was chosen as the fourth football coach in Newbury Park‘s 40-year history and is pleased his 27-year-old football coaching journey has finally placed him into the captain’s chair.

You see, more than a decade ago, when Fabricius was still a wide-eyed and hopeful thirty-something, he applied for head coaching jobs at Agoura and Thousand Oaks. Unfortunately, Agoura never even gave him an interview and Thousand Oaks passed him over, too.

The whole experience was kind of a bummer for Fabricius, but, looking back on it, Fabricius’ 49-year-old self can say it was all for the better.

‘After if all was over, I decided that I wouldn’t actively seek another job,’ Fabricius said. ‘From that point I decided to stay with Newbury Park and see what would happen. In the end, everything worked out.’

Fabricius said he’s dedicated to building off the success the Panthers had following last season’s trip to the Northern Division semifinals. He expects everyone on the coaching staff (with the obvious exception of retired coach George Hurley) to come back for next season and he’s excited about the Panthers’ promise.

‘Obviously, there’s a little bit of pressure trying to maintain the level we established under George,’ said Fabricius, who also teaches social studies at the high school. ‘It’s important that we continue to be competitive and build the program in a positive direction -- that’s the goal of everyone who’s here.’

Fabricius seems like a pretty cool guy. He returned my phone call and answered all my questions. Hopefully, I’ll talk to him again sometime before the start of the season.

-- Austin Knoblauch

-- Image from jimenapulse.files.wordpress.com