Katella Hires Anderson to Be Football Coach

Larry Anderson, the Lynwood High School football coach, was hired Thursday to try to turn around a struggling Katella program that has experienced 17 consecutive losing seasons.

Anderson’s teams went 47-10-2 in his five seasons at Lynwood and lost only one San Gabriel Valley League game during his tenure. The Knights won 34 straight league games beginning in 1981 before they lost to Paramount in their final league game in 1986.

Anderson began as an assistant under Dave Thompson at Lynwood and has been a mainstay in the Knights’ program for 13 years.

“I’ve lived in Placentia for nine years and thought this would be the best time to make a move,” Anderson said. “Katella is only 10 minutes from my house, and I welcome the challenge of turning around the program there. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Anderson replaces Richard Watson, who was fired by Principal Barry Escoe in December. Watson’s teams went 7-23 in three seasons, including a 3-7 record last year with only 29 players on the varsity team.

Watson filed a grievance against the Anaheim Union High School District after his firing but lost his appeal last week. He remains a physical education instructor at Katella.

“We feel very fortunate to get a coach like Larry who is highly respected among his peers,” Escoe said. “We contacted some other coaches, and they all spoke very highly of Larry. I think he’s a top-notch person for our program.”

Escoe said Anderson was selected from among 50 applicants. Anderson will try to obtain an early release from the Lynwood Unified School District so that he can conduct spring drills at Katella, which are scheduled to begin May 25.