SAN DIEGO HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL : 2-A Finalists : Oceanside: : It Didn’t Take Long for Scaffidi to Turn Pirates Around

When Roy Scaffidi was named Oceanside High School’s coach last spring, he made no promises. After all, he was hired to build a winner from a struggling program.

Last season, Oceanside was considered by many opposing coaches to be the best 3-7 team in San Diego County. It was a team that they said didn’t play up to its potential.

But things have been different this season. Scaffidi has guided the Pirates to a 10-2 record, the Avocado League championship and a berth in Saturday’s San Diego Section 2-A final against defending champion Lincoln.

“He (Scaffidi) came in with his eyes open and knowing he was coming into a down program,” said Bill Christopher, Oceanside athletic director. “If he isn’t Coach of the Year, I don’t know who else would be.”

Scaffidi doesn’t like to take the credit for leading Oceanside to its first trip to the playoffs since 1975, when the Pirates won the 2-A title. He says the play of All-County lineman Junior Seau, linebacker Sai Niu and quarterback Rocky Aukuso are the reasons for Oceanside’s turnaround.

Scaffidi said those players are the reason he decided to leave an assistant’s job at Capistrano Valley of Mission Viejo, a perennial Orange County power, to take the Oceanside position.

“I thought there was as much and probably more talent here as two other schools where I could have coached,” he said. “I decided Oceanside was a place where I could get some things done.”

Scaffidi has helped turn the offense around. First, he had his quarterback and top receiver swap positions. Scaffidi thought that the size and speed of Seau, 6-feet 5-inches and 215 pounds, were not being exploited at quarterback, so he had him assume Aukuso’s duties as a wide receiver and lineman.

During the regular season, Seau caught 51 passes from Aukuso--seven for touchdowns--to place fifth among county receivers. On defense, Seau alternated between playing on the line and dropping back to play outside linebacker “like (Lawrence) Taylor does with the New York Giants,” said Herb Meyer, the coach of El Camino, Oceanside’s rival.

Meyer has an interesting perspective of Oceanside’s resurgence. He was the coach of the Pirates in 1975. Meyer’s team beat Oceanside in 1985, 35-13, but watched the Wildcats lose to the Pirates this season, 21-7.

“I think the biggest thing was that he was able to create was an atmosphere where the kids put all their aggressive tendencies into being naturally aggressive players,” Meyer said.

Scaffidi, however, said he hasn’t done anything to help his players keep from losing their composure, something Oceanside has had a reputation for in the past.

“It’s a little hard for me to imagine what would make them act differently,” he said. “I wish I could take credit for coming in and waving a magic wand, but that’s not the case. . . . Maybe they just needed the right person to say the right thing.”

Saying the right thing is one of Scaffidi strengths, Christopher said.

“He’s got a charisma about him,” Christopher said. “He’s just got a way of getting into a kid’s head when he’s talking to him and teaching him . . . He’s just a dynamic workaholic who has worked some magic on the kids.”