Fate of Laguna Coach Debated at School Meet

An estimated 200 to 300 parents and students turned out in force Tuesday night at a meeting of the Laguna Beach Unified School District board to speak for and against the retention of former professional football star Cedrick W. Hardman as head football coach.

After about an hour of emotional public comment on Hardman’s fate, school board members adjourned to deliberate behind closed doors at Laguna Beach High School. By late Tuesday night, board members had not yet reached a decision.

Suspended Without Pay

School trustees had suspended Hardman without pay pending the resolution of criminal charges against the 38-year-old former All-Pro athlete for felony possession of cocaine and resisting arrest.

Last week, Hardman was ordered by Orange County Municipal Judge Richard D. Hamilton to attend a drug rehabilitation program, rather than face trial for the felony cocaine charge. If he completed the drug rehabilitation program, Judge Hamilton said, the felony charge would be dropped. If he does not complete the program, or is found to be using drugs again, he could still be tried on the felony cocaine charge.

However, Hardman still must face trial Jan. 7 on the misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest in connection with his arrest Sept. 20, after he was stopped for speeding on Laguna Canyon Road and police assertedly spotted 5.5 grams of cocaine as he fumbled in a briefcase for his identification.

Tuesday’s regular meeting of the school board was held in the Laguna Beach High School library to accommodate a crowd that was expected to be larger than usual. The board has received numerous letters and petitions, some urging that Hardmen be fired and others that he be retained.

Many in the overflow audience were students, including many of the high school’s football players, who applauded frequently when speakers expressed support for Hardman and called for his reinstatement.

Favors Coach’s Return

Shirley Izaguirre, who has a son on the football team, said, “Laguna Beach doesn’t just reject people because they have problems. He (Hardman) has to be brought back.”

“If this person was brought back,” said Amy Avery, a sophomore who appeared to favor Hardman’s return to campus, “it would be another person a student with a drug problem could talk to.”

But others disagreed.

“It takes a minimum of one year of outpatient therapy . . . before you know whether a person is going to be a functional individual,” said Lew Moss, who identified himself as a hospital medical director of drug rehabilitation programs and father of three.

“They need to have documented, rigid, outpatient programs . . . for at least one year,” Moss said. To allow a person to return to the same stressful situation in which he became a drug user after only 30 days of treatment is “not the way this drug rehabilitation program works,” Moss asserted.

Dr. Joseph Pursch, who treated Hardman when he voluntarily enrolled in a 30-day drug rehabilitation program at South Coast Medical Center in South Laguna, said proper rehabilitation should include returning an addict “precisely to the job he had while he was diagnosed,” barring brain damage.

Experience With Addicts

Pursch, who said he has had 20 years of experience treating alcoholics and drug addicts, reported in a letter filed with the court Oct. 10 that Hardman’s “chemical dependency is of only moderate severity.”

“Since he is in the superior range intellectually and has good motivation for treatment, his prognosis for a successful recovery is good,” Pursch wrote in the letter filed for Judge Hamilton’s consideration in deciding whether to order the former athlete to stand trial.

Trustees suspended Hardman after his arrest, although such action against a person facing criminal charges is not required under state law. However, conviction for the felony drug possession offense would, under state law, bar Hardman’s employment by the school district. But the board retains discretionary powers in the case of conviction on misdemeanor offenses.

Hardman was an All-Pro defensive end in 1971 and 1975 with the San Francisco 49ers, who selected him as their No. 1 college draft choice in 1970. Hardman ended his national fotball league playing career in 1981 with the Oakland Raiders.

After working as a volunteer assistant coach at Laguna Beach High School, Hardman was hired as head coach in 1985. The job pays an annual $1,700 stipend and involves about two or three hours of work a day, five months a year, school officials have said.

Hardman was living in Laguna Beach at the time of his arrest.