Demise of Pierce Football Hard to Explain : Prospective Coach Makes Tough Calls as President Vows to Try Again in ’88

Steve Butler spent Thursday dismantling months of informal work on a job he never started.

The would-be Pierce College football coach was on the phone all day telling prospective players and coaches that the planned reinstatement of the program at the Woodland Hills school had failed.

“Everybody has a hard time understanding why this is so complicated, and I’m having a hard time explaining it myself,” Butler said. “It seems like such an easy thing to do, for me to go from one school in the district to another, but obviously it isn’t.”

Butler, an instructor at West Los Angeles College who formerly coached at Crespi High and Valley College, was offered the football coaching job at Pierce by school President David Wolf more than two months ago.

He never officially got the job, however, because he was unable to obtain a transfer from West L.A. to Pierce. Because of faculty layoffs in the Los Angeles Community College District last June, transfers of teachers are possible only on an exchange basis, in accordance with the faculty contract. Pierce was unable to work out an exchange of teachers with West L.A., which, like Pierce, was trying to bring back a football program dropped last June.

Wolf made the decision Wednesday that football would not be brought back at Pierce in time for the 1987 season. He said he hoped to have the program back in place by 1988.

“We will pack our bags and try again for next year,” Wolf said. “And we will have learned from our experiences this year. But we have run out of time for this year.”

Without football, Pierce will lose almost $300,000 in projected income based on enrollment. The district receives $2,699 per full-time student, and the Pierce team in past years had more than 100 players, according to Athletic Director Marian McWilliams.

“As far as enrollment is concerned, it’s definitely to the district’s advantage to have football at Pierce,” McWilliams said. “But they say we are overstaffed in physical education.

“It’s a real shame, because we have a coach, we have the facilities and we have kids that want to play. A school this size could have a great program.”

Pierce, which has nearly 20,000 students, won three consecutive conference championships before dropping its football program last June because of a tight budget and the lack of a qualified coach when Jim Fenwick resigned to become a voluntary assistant at Cal State Northridge.

One of the coaches Butler called on Thursday was Wayne Quigley, an assistant at Calabasas High who said he had 10 players interested in attending Pierce.

Said Quigley: “We had a lot of players on our team this year that have been contacted by major universities but who have not been offered scholarships. Those are the kind of players that can go to a JC and make it.

“Those kids are kind of stuck now. They’ll have to travel somewhere else. Valley and Moorpark are about the only choices. It would be nice if they could go right here in the community.”

Darren Del’Andrae, a senior quarterback at Calabasas who was player of the year in the Frontier League, said he had been interested in attending Pierce. But he said he decided to stick with his original college choice--Valley--because of lingering indecision at Pierce.

“Pierce had a really good program before they dropped it, and I live right by the school,” Del’Andrae said. “But Valley has a good program, and they’ve been there all along.”

Valley Coach Chuck Ferrero said his program could accommodate the entire Valley area despite comments made Wednesday by Butler that the area needed another football program.

Said Ferrero: “Whether there is one more JC football program or not, the good players are the ones that are going to make it. Once you leave high school, football programs are not a service program for every kid that wants to play football.

“That’s just a fact of life. It’s no different than in any business.”

Ferrero had 137 players after roster cuts this year when 22 players transferred in from Pierce, but he said all were given a fair chance.

NO FOOTBALL AT PIERCE: THE REACTION

Steve Butler, Pierce’s would-be football coach:

“Everybody has a hard time understanding why this is so complicated, and I’m having a hard time explaining it myself. It seems like such an easy thing to do, for me to go from one school in the district to another, but obviously it isn’t.”

Marian McWilliams, Pierce athletic director:

“It’s a real shame, because we have a coach, we have the facilities and we have kids that want to play. A school this size could have a great program.”

Chuck Ferrero, Valley College football coach:

“Whether there is one more JC football program or not, the good players are the ones that are going to make it. Once you leave high school, football programs are not a service program for every kid that wants to play football. That’s just a fact of life. It’s no different than in any business.”