Coaches Can’t Just Walk In and Offer to Be a Walk-On

The walk-on coaches who help run high school sports programs don’t simply walk into the lives of the athletic directors who need them.

The coaches earn only about $1,500 for a three-month season, and the hours are often long and inconvenient. If the low pay doesn’t turn some off, the daily practice routine often does.

So where do athletic directors find qualified personnel willing to break up their daily work routine to coach a group of teen-agers for little more than the minimum wage?

“Anywhere you can,” said Bobby Mangram, Saddleback athletic director. “We call our colleagues to find them. We have former players come to us. We have colleges call trying to place graduating seniors.”

Others advertise. John Klink, Dana Hills athletic director, said he advertised in two newspapers, sent 40 fliers to county schools and placed a listing in the Southern Section’s monthly bulletin to help find a boys’ soccer coach.

“I had only three applicants for the job,” Klink said, “and none of three qualified. The biggest problem is finding someone who can make the time commitment. You’re asking someone who generally has a job to coach in the afternoons. How many people can make that commitment?”

Bill Rolfe, Capistrano Valley athletic director, had a similar problem when he tried to hire a girls’ soccer coach. Parents of several team members thought they had two qualified coaches for the position and persuaded Rolfe to interview them as potential co-coaches.

The coaches had been successful in a youth soccer league, but Rolfe said they had problems understanding that the students also had academic responsibilities.

“They told me they wanted to practice on Monday and Wednesday nights for a couple of hours starting at 7,” Rolfe said. “I kept asking them, ‘When are the girls supposed to do their homework on those nights?’

“Then they said they wanted to take Fridays off and practice on Saturdays. I’m sure they were very good coaches, but I started wondering if they even considered academics.”

Some athletic directors say they are hesitant about hiring former students as walk-on coaches. They question whether an 18- or 19-year-old college student is mature enough to handle a team five days a week.

“I’m really hesitant about hiring former players,” Klink said. “They often try to be the kid’s friend more than his coach. They get on a first-name basis, and I don’t think that’s healthy.”

But Art Perry, Estancia athletic director, said some of his lower-level programs have been capably handled by former players.

“I have a 19-year-old (Rene Caballero) who serves as the defensive coordinator for our sophomore football team,” Perry said. “He’s only been out of high school for a year, but he did a great job this year.

“We have three former basketball players (Jeff Gardner, Paul Markel and Steve Kraiss) coaching lower-level basketball teams. All of them played for Larry Sunderman and know what it takes to do a professional job as a coach.”

Many athletic directors say the toughest positions to fill are for soccer. A survey of 91 varsity boys’ and girls’ soccer programs in the county showed that 60 coaches were walk-ons this past season.

Ed Adams, athletic administrator at El Toro, said he felt extremely lucky to find a coach as highly qualified as Carlos Arce to head the boys’ soccer team.

“Ideally, I was looking for somebody out of college who was willing to make a commitment for more than one year,” Adams said. “He’s a plum.”

Arce played soccer at Santa Clara University and earned a master’s degree in education at UCLA.

“I could interview 100 coaches who don’t have his qualifications,” Adams said.

Members of the community volunteered to help some of San Clemente’s varsity sports programs.

When the Tritons needed a girls’ soccer coach, Bob Thole, president of the booster club, stepped forward. When they needed a tennis coach, Bob Canfield, an instructor at a local club, volunteered to help.

“We’ve been real lucky,” said Jim McNaught, athletic director at San Clemente. “I know some ADs who have a terrible time finding walk-on coaches. We’ve had several very good coaches come to us. That doesn’t happen very often.”