THE HIGH SCHOOLS : Notre Dame Makes Peace With Proposed New League, Waives Its Right to Appeal

It may not be the best of all worlds--or leagues--but Notre Dame Athletic Director Kevin Rooney has made his peace with life in the newly proposed San Fernando Valley League.

The 51-school member Catholic Athletic Assn. is expected to ratify the releaguing proposal at Tuesday’s executive committee meeting, according to Father Gordon Bennett, the Loyola High principal and Del Rey League representative on the committee. The proposal calls for Notre Dame to leave the Del Rey League and join Bell-Jeff, Chaminade, Harvard, St. Genevieve and La Salle of Pasadena in the San Fernando Valley League for the start of the 1988-89 school year. Remaining in the Del Rey would be Alemany, Crespi, Loyola, St. Francis and St. John Bosco.

Alemany was originally expected to switch leagues with Notre Dame but then decided to stay put, a decision that surprised Notre Dame officials. But Rooney said Saturday that the school will go along with the move if approved by the CAA, waiving its right to appeal to the Southern Section office.

“If that’s what the CAA wants us to do, we’re not going to appeal,” Rooney said. “There’s a lot of mixed feelings about it, but we feel the new league fits our desire to be in a co-ed league and fits our educational philosophy.”

The move probably means a drop in classification for Notre Dame. Rooney said league officials will request a classification of 4-A in baseball, 3-A in basketball and to play in the Desert-Mountain Conference in football. Notre Dame currently plays in the 5-A Division in basketball, 4-A in baseball and the Big Five Conference in football.

The move also means an end to Notre Dame’s league rivalries with Alemany and Crespi, but not to an end of the series.

“We hope to still play those guys in all sports,” Rooney said. “Look at Hart and Canyon. They are in different leagues but have kept their rivalry going. They open the football season with a big game. Maybe we can do the same with Crespi or Alemany.”

More than a walk-on: Crespi may be staying put in the Del Rey League, but the school is breaking from its own tradition. Next season, for the first time in Athletic Director Paul Muff’s 10 years at the school, Crespi will employ a walk-on head football coach.

The coach, of course, will be the same Bill Redell who guided Crespi to the Big Five Conference championship last fall. Redell has since left his Crespi teaching post to become director of athletic development at Cal Lutheran.

“We don’t have a written policy but it would be hard to recommend someone new as football coach if he couldn’t be on campus on a full-time basis,” Muff said. “We’d make an exception if the replacement was familiar with Crespi, and Coach Redell certainly knows what Crespi is all about as a school.”

Muff and Redell agree that the new job will give Redell more time with the football program, even though he is off campus.

“It’s hard to argue after winning the CIF title, but I was teaching right up until practice and I didn’t have much time to prepare,” Redell said. “Cal Lu has agreed to let me work my schedule around football.”

In the off-season, Redell will supervise the team’s weight-training program, meeting with players three times a week at 6:30 a.m., and has returned to Crespi in the afternoon in recent weeks to counsel former players as to their college choice. Linebacker Sean Howard and tight end John Carpenter have committed to UCLA and Stanford, respectively. Redell also will run summer practices four days a week in the evenings and work his Cal Lutheran schedule around Crespi practices during the season.

Muff said he will evaluate the situation after one year, but Redell has made it clear that his job at Crespi comes first.

“I’m a football coach,” he said. “Football takes priority.”

Add Redell: Redell also made it clear he has no designs on Bob Shoup’s coaching job at Cal Lutheran. With running back Russell White and Redell’s son, Ron, coming back to play at Crespi for two more years, the coach has no plans to move.

“Bob Shoup is not thinking of retiring and I’m staying at Crespi,” Redell said. “The Cal Lutheran job is just a chance to use some of my talents better.”

Smoothing out the kinks: Simi Valley’s run to a 22-1 record this season has all the makings of a smooth journey. The Pioneers won their first six games before losing in the opening round of the Iolani Tournament in Hawaii and since have won 16 straight, including Wednesday’s 89-49 victory over Camarillo that clinched a second straight Marmonte League title.

But there were bumpy times along the way, according to Coach Bob Hawking.

“In December, we weren’t hitting on all eight cylinders,” he said. “In January we got back on the practice floor and really honed our skills. A combination of practice, film sessions and chalk talks helped the team mature. We try to gear everything to peak toward the end of the league season and the playoffs. That’s what happened with last year’s group, and it seems to be happening this year.”