THE HIGH SCHOOLS : MVP Choice Starts a Furor in Simi

Results from the vote none of you had been waiting for were announced last week and the guy with the big ‘S’ on his chest didn’t win.

This time it was the bespectacled Clark Kent-type. The closet athlete.

Mitch Parrott, who in street clothes looks more like a mild-mannered reporter than a basketball star, was selected the Ventura County Player of the Year by the Ventura County Coaches Assn.

He beat out, by a 9 1/2-8 1/2 margin, Don MacLean, Simi Valley’s 6-9 all-league, all-area, all-state, all star center.

In selecting Parrott over MacLean, the good coaches have set off quite an uproar--most of it coming from downtown Pioneerville.

Yes, the good folks in Simi Valley have reacted with outright horror.

The local paper, the Simi Valley Enterprise, ran a banner headline in its Friday, March 28 sports section. “No Joke: MacLean Not MVP” it screamed. Underneath were two stories and a picture of the city’s snubbed hero. The jump headline on one of the stories summarized the writer’s feelings. “Please see TRAVESTY, Page 16,” it said.

You would have thought someone threatened to recycle the city’s famous landmark--Bottle Village. Instead, the ruckus was caused by some little coaches’ association that had the gall to say that its favorite player was not Simi’s favorite son.

“A lot of people have been talking about the big headline in the paper and all the fuss,” MacLean said. “I was asleep when the guy from the paper called to ask me what I thought about Mitch getting it. It didn’t seem like such a big deal at first.”

That was not the case for Bob Hawking, MacLean’s coach, who voiced his opinion loud and clear to anyone who happened to ask.

“It’s hard to swallow,” Hawking said this week. “I feel that a great injustice has been done. I really didn’t think the vote would even be close. I thought Don would win going away. A great player gets his team to the playoffs, even if he has to do it single-handedly.”

Obviously, Hawking is biased. But he also makes a good point.

Parrott, a 6-4 center/forward, averaged 22.3 points and 9.3 rebounds a game and shot 58% from the field, but Camarillo finished the season with a 13-11 record. The Scorpions were 5-7 and placed fifth in the Marmonte League, missing the playoffs.

MacLean, a sophomore, led Simi Valley to the Southern Section 4-A final and averaged 21.7 points and 13.9 rebounds a game. He scored in double figures in 29 of the Pioneers’ 30 games and was in double figures in rebounding in 25.

In the playoffs, he averaged 25.6 points, 13.5 rebounds, shot 63% from the field and 90% from the free throw line.

“When a player with those numbers, especially the ones he had in the playoffs, gets beat out by a guy whose team didn’t even reach the playoffs, I have to question the credibility of the vote and the people who voted,” Hawking said.

Said John Harbour, Parrott’s coach: “We were competitive with him (Parrott), but would have been disastrous without him. When they played head-to-head there was no question in my mind who was the better player. He did more for our team than Mr. MacLean was asked to do for theirs. Parrott brought the ball up the court, scored, rebounded and guarded the other team’s best player.”

Camarillo handed Simi Valley (27-3) its only loss during the Marmonte League season, 42-40. Parrott, who scored 22 points and had 13 rebounds, hit a 20-footer at the buzzer for the margin of victory.

The players had comparable statistics in both of their head-to-head matchups during the regular season.

But, as Hawking said, and many observers would agree, MacLean was a much better player during the playoffs than he was during the regular season.

MacLean and Parrott shared the league’s most valuable player award. The Marmonte coaches, the ones who were most qualified to make a choice between the two, couldn’t.

But MacLean’s playoff performance should have been a convincing tiebreaker.

Put his imposing 6-9 frame and silky-smooth medium-range jumper in Camarillo’s lineup and the Scorpions make the playoffs, and possibly challenge for a league championship. Put Parrott in Simi Valley’s lineup without MacLean, and the Pioneers probably still win league, but probably lose to a mammoth Capistrano Valley team in the semifinals.

MacLean had 30 points and 17 rebounds against a Capo Valley front line that stood 6-9, 6-7, 6-5.

Meanwhile, Parrott, the guy who was supposed to be honored by this award, has unfortunately become a victim of the controversy.

He readily admits he thought MacLean would be the MVP but stops well short of saying the coaches made a bad choice.

“It was a fair vote,” said Parrott, a senior who will play for UC Irvine next season. “I had as good of a year as he did. Look at the stats. They’re about even. I thought he’d get it because Simi as a team did so well, but in the back of my mind I was hoping I’d get it.”

His selection continues a trend. In the eight years the coaches have given the award, a senior has won every time.

But that is little consolation to MacLean, who grows angrier the longer he thinks about finishing second.

“He’s a good player, but he didn’t lead his team to the playoffs,” MacLean said. “If he had bulging statistics over me I could see it, even if his team didn’t make the playoffs. But ours were about the same even though he took practically all of their shots. We weren’t a one-man team.

“I’m mad about it, but, like Coach says, it’s just more fuel for the fire. Maybe I’ll read these articles again a few times before some Marmonte League games next season.”

Now we’ll get to see whether MacLean and Simi Valley will be the only party out to settle a score. Nominations are being taken by the Ventura Coaches Assn. for coach of the year. Hawking, the only coach in the county to take his team past the second round of the playoffs, seems to be an obvious choice.

The question is, how many coaches did Hawking alienate with his outbursts over the MacLean incident? The result will be announced in May.

Stay tuned.