Vacations? Only Timeout These Coaches Want Is on Field

Jim Brownfield of Muir High and Bob Baiz of Claremont High are two football coaches who don’t mind keeping themselves busy during the summer.

While many coaches are taking a break from the school-year routine, Brownfield and Baiz are usually thinking about football.

That is especially true this summer because the 57-year-old Brownfield and 59-year-old Baiz--two of the most successful coaches in Southern California--are coaching or organizing two major all-star games.

First, Baiz and Brownfield will join Harry Welch of Canyon (Saugus) as coaches of the South team for the 35th Shrine All-Star Football Game on Aug. 2 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

Hall of Fame Next

Then the pair will concentrate on the National Football Foundation’s seventh Hall of Fame All-Star Football Game on Aug. 8 at Arroyo High in El Monte.

Brownfield, president of the San Gabriel Valley chapter of the National Football Foundation, is chief organizer for the game and Baiz will coach the East.

That will cap a busy summer for Baiz and Brownfield, but it is a schedule both are accustomed to.

“It’s a busy schedule but I’ve done it for 25 years,” Baiz said. “I’m pretty much programmed for it.”

“It’s complete, no doubt about it,” Brownfield added. “But I enjoy it.”

A typical summer for Brownfield revolves around his Muir football team, which won the CIF Coastal Conference title last year.

Leagues and Conditioning

He usually kicks off the summer by coaching the team in the L. A. Games passing tournament in late June. Then he supervises the team in the Muir passing league on Tuesdays and Thursdays in July, invitational passing tournaments in July and August and a summer weight-lifting and conditioning program on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays that runs through early August.

Brownfield usually spends three hours a day on his duties with the National Football Foundation and organizes occasional fund-raising events for his Claremont team and has sporadic public relation jobs.

It is no wonder that Brownfield says he is not at his South Pasadena apartment much.

“I’m almost never home. If you want to reach me, you have to call after 11:30 p.m. or before 6:30 a.m.”

With the addition of the Shrine game this year, Brownfield has had to make adjustments.

From Friday until the Shrine Game, Brownfield will spend most of his time with the South team at a live-in training camp at Occidental College in Eagle Rock.

Aides Handle Muir

In the interim, several of his assistant coaches will be working with Muir in its passing leagues and weight program. “The football team has excellent assistant coaches who can run the show while I’m with the Shrine game,” he said.

Brownfield added that the Hall of Fame game has been organized well enough to run smoothly in his absence.

“We’re at the point that we could put the game on Friday if we had to,” he said. “Everything is in order and everyone knows what they have to do.”

A typical summer schedule for Baiz pales in comparison to Brownfield’s. But Baiz, whose Claremont team has won the CIF Eastern Conference title the last two years, doesn’t exactly take it easy.

It starts with his team’s participation in passing tournaments, which start in late June and continue through July. Baiz also supervises the players in weight and conditioning programs through mid-July at Claremont.

Also Teaches Driving

That’s not to mention the four hours of driver training classes that he teaches each week in June and July.

Baiz said his participation in the Shrine game will shorten his team’s summer training schedule by a week since he will be spending most of the next 10 days coaching and boarding with the South at Occidental.

That will also keep him from Hall of Fame game practice at Claremont High. So Baiz says his top assistants at Claremont--offensive coordinator Rick Dutton and defensive coordinator Jack Harper--will handle coaching chores.

“Jim Brownfield knew about my situation with the Shrine game but asked me to do both, and I said fine,” Baiz said.

“I don’t anticipate any problems (with the Hall of Fame game). They (Dutton and Harper) are good coaches. I’ll just be a figurehead when I return. I don’t expect to make any changes unless I see something that’s obviously out of line.”

Shrine Premier Game

Both coaches say they don’t mind the added coaching burden because the Shrine game is regarded as one of the premier high-school all-star games in the nation.

“It has pushed my summer a bit,” Baiz said. “We postponed the last week of our summer practice and I won’t be able to coach the Hall of Fame game right away, but I think it’s still worth it.

“The fact that I was selected for the game is an honor.”

Added Brownfield: “Coaching in this game is certainly one of the highlights for me. I coached an Inland Empire all-star game and a Hall of Fame game once, and I’ve been chief administrator for the Hall of Fame game the last seven years. But the Shrine game is considered to be the pinnacle of all-star games.”

After the all-star games, Brownfield and Baiz will not have much time to relax.

Vacations at Last

Brownfield will take two weeks off in August to visit friends. “I have a lot of beach friends and I start in San Diego and work my way up to Santa Barbara,” he said. “It’s kind of an annual thing and I look forward to it.

“People say to me, ‘Why don’t you go to Hawaii and get away from it all?’ and I say, ‘Because I don’t know anybody in Hawaii.’ ”

Upon his return Aug. 22, Brownfield will spend three days preparing for the fall season with his coaching staff before the players arrive for practice Aug. 25.

After the Hall of Fame game, Baiz will take a one-week vacation with his wife before resuming his team’s fall conditioning program Aug. 18. “We will start one week early to make up for the week we’ll miss because of the Shrine game,” Baiz said.

That means Baiz will have only one week off this year and Brownfield only two.

But these are coaches who don’t mind keeping busy over the summer.