Tustin High Fills One Coaching Job Winds and Up With Another Vacancy

Peggy Lynch, principal at Tustin High School, filled one vacancy Monday when she hired Tim O’Brien to coach the Tillers’ basketball team, but another vacancy was created when baseball Coach Dan Sheehy announced his resignation.

Sheehy, 37, had been at Tustin for 10 years, during which he compiled a 125-104-5 record and won the Century League championship in 1983. The Tillers finished third with a 15-8-1 record this season but were eliminated by top-seeded Gahr on Friday in the first round of the Southern Section 3-A playoffs. It was Tustin’s fifth trip to the playoffs in 10 years.

Sheehy resides in San Clemente with his wife, Martha, who is expecting the couple’s second child in September. He said he resigned so he could spend more time at home.

“The timing is very good,” said Sheehy, who will continue to teach English at Tustin. “I’m going to have to make myself more available at home, but with coaching and the drive back to San Clemente, I always got home real late.”

O’Brien, 30, was the coach this past season at Santiago High School, where he led the Cavaliers to a 12-10 record. Prior to coming to Orange County, O’Brien coached for two years at Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Ariz.

O’Brien’s teams twice advanced to the Arizona state championship game but lost both games in overtime. He left Arizona after his teaching position at Saguaro High was eliminated.

O’Brien replaces Steve Roderick, who resigned after the 1984-85 season, his fourth at Tustin. Lynch said that O’Brien would probably be teaching in the health area at Tustin.