DeBusk Resigns From OCC Job

Orange Coast College assistant basketball coach Jerry DeBusk has resigned his job to return to coaching at the high school level.

DeBusk, head coach at Newport Harbor High School from 1976-85, moved to Orange Coast to assist Tandy Gillis with the men’s team this season while still teaching at Newport Harbor.

“When this whole thing transpired for me to go to Orange Coast, it was with the understanding that I could return if it didn’t work out,” DeBusk said.

“I liked coaching over there with Tandy, but there was no teaching job to go along with it, and I don’t think I’m a very good walk-on coach.”

DeBusk will replace Tim Parsel, who will remain as DeBusk’s assistant at the varsity level with the Sailors. Parsel had moved from Costa Mesa to Newport Harbor to fill DeBusk’s position at the beginning of this season.

Parsel had been a junior varsity coach with DeBusk at Newport Harbor, so coaching there was not unfamiliar to him.

Parsel, 35, said that he and DeBusk have been friends for a long time and that moving to an assistant’s position there wouldn’t be any problem.

“Now I think I can devote even more time to the game aspects of coaching and less to the administrative end,” Parsel said.

The Sailors finished the season 13-11, 7-7 in the Sea View League, in a four-way tie for third place with Laguna Beach, University, and Saddleback.

In a postseason playoff between those four schools, Saddleback emerged as the victor and went on to represent the league as the third-place entry in the CIF Southern Section 4-A playoffs.

In DeBusk’s last season at Newport Harbor, the Sailors won the league title and went 24-4 overall, advancing to the 4-A quarterfinals before losing to eventual-champion Dominguez.

“What I missed most was that I didn’t like leaving Newport Harbor at the end of the day,” DeBusk said. “For nine years I’d been involved with a lot of things at the school and now I just feel like I’m back where I belong.”

DeBusk is currently coaching the Newport Harbor softball team as an assistant to Parsel.

“Parsel and I are building a dynasty,” DeBusk claimed. “We’re undefeated--we haven’t played a game yet.”

Long known for his dry sense of humor, DeBusk had this to say when asked his age: “Do you have to print that? I’ve been fooling a lot of people lately, you know. Actually, I’m 40.”