Are High School Coaches Fighting a Gerry Faust Syndrome?

When Cal State Northridge recently went shopping for a football coach, high school applicants weren’t a priority.

In fact, they were discouraged from applying.

It said right on the job description: “College coaching experience preferred.” In other words, if you don’t have it, don’t waste your time.

Of the more the 50 applicants for the position only two or three were high school coaches, according to Bob Hiegert, Northridge athletic director.

“We received quite a few phone calls from high school coaches inquiring about the job, but only a few applied,” Hiegert said. “Of the ones that did, none made it past the first round.”

The infrequency of high school coaches graduating to the college ranks seems to be a trend--one that has irritated at least one successful Valley-area high school coach.

Harry Welch, whose Canyon High team has won a state-leading 38-straight games, said that he knows “a half dozen coaches winning big at the high school level, who would be just as successful on the college level.”

“I heard from some of the candidates that Northridge said they wanted to go with someone with four-year experience. Some of the rationale was pretty weak,” added Welch.

“They were saying they didn’t think it would be to their advantage to have to teach some one from high school, or a JC, proper budget and staff procedures. Well, someone with good intelligence could pick that up in a short amount of time. The question should be, can he work with the athletes, student body and administration.”

Hiegert said that even the most successful high school coaches need time to adjust when they move up a coaching level.

“In my experience, it takes a good high school coach three or four years to go from high school to junior college and build a program,” Hiegert said. “We can’t afford that here.

“At the high school level, a coach can afford to make a few wrong personnel decisions, because he can adjust during practice or the next game. At the university level, if a coach makes four or five wrong decisions in recruiting, it can ruin a program for four or five years.”

Bill Redell, who has coached at the high school, college and professional levels, said that he has found coaching high school more challenging than any other.

“You teach a lot of fundamentals and basics,” said Redell, who completed his first season at Crespi High last fall. “You have new players every year, so consistency is out of the question. You’re starting over all the time.”

Hiegert said that he does not challenge the level of high school coaching, especially in Southern California. But sometimes, he says, good tactical coaches don’t necessarily make good college head coaches.

“Gerry Faust is a good example,” Hiegert said. “He obviously had what it took to be a great high school coach, and just as obvious, he didn’t do very well at Notre Dame.”

Faust, who is now the coach at the University of Akron, Ohio, was a coaching legend at Moeller High in Cincinnati, but resigned from Notre Dame after posting a record of 30-26-1 in five years.

“I believe what happened at Notre Dame scared people,” Welch said. “I think Gerry Faust has harmed the chances for a lot of high school coaches, but I also believe that a good administration would recognize a man who has what it takes to build a good football program and give him a chance.”

According to Hiegert, fear of banking on an unproven commodity is more of a factor in eliminating high school coaches than Gerry Faust’s poor record.

“Faust is an obvious example of a selection that didn’t work, but he isn’t the reason high school coaches aren’t getting college jobs,” Hiegert said.

“A great high school coach might be able to recruit well and sell his program. He also might be able to diagram the right plays and defenses. But the fact remains that if you have someone with the experience of doing so on the college level, why take an unnecessary risk?

And so goes an age-old problem: How do you get job experience when you need experience to get a job?

Bob Burt, Northridge’s choice as football coach, once faced a similar predicament.

“Bob is a perfect example of a coach who knew that he needed college experience and went out and got it,” Hiegert said. “He had been a successful high school coach, but was told he couldn’t get a job because he didn’t have coaching experience at the college level. So, he made a sacrifice to get the experience.”

Burt’s first collegiate job was as head coach at tiny U.S. International University in San Diego. The job paid $750 a month for the duration of the football season.

Since he could not afford to quit his full-time teaching position in the Garden Grove School District, Burt commuted 175 miles from Orange County to San Diego and back each day.

A sacrifice, indeed. Undoubtedly, a story that impressed Hiegert and other CSUN administrators.

But perhaps Burt didn’t tell anyone the other half of the same story.

Burt took the USIU job after failing to get a job as head coach at UC San Diego. He says he was told by the Dr. William Rust, USIU’s president, that he didn’t get it because he never been a college coach before.

Coincidentally, USIU played a game against UC San Diego the following season. Burt’s team won, 41-0.

“That other coach had about 10 assistant coaches and I had a very small staff,” Burt said. “I remember after the game the president of the college came over to me and shook my hand and said, ‘You know, I think I made a mistake.’ ”

Unfortunately, that same mistake may have been made many times since.