Prep Roundup : McMahon Resigns as Orange Coach

Mark McMahon submitted his resignation as Orange High School football coach Tuesday, saying he could no longer tolerate conflicts caused by the Orange Unified School District teachers’ strike.

McMahon, who coached the Panthers the last two seasons, said he had grown distraught in the last few days after watching personal conflicts develop between members of faculty and administration at Orange High.

“This isn’t a coaching issue,” McMahon, who has taught and coached high school football for 14 years, said Wednesday. “I turned it (his resignation) in because I don’t know where this whole strike thing is going and where it’s ever going to go.”

Orange Principal Shirley Fox said she refused to accept McMahon’s resignation and expects him to reconsider.

“I’m not interested in accepting any resignation from Mark,” she said.

McMahon said that although he is not “directly involved” with the workings of the strike itself, he is displeased with the atmosphere it has created at Orange.

McMahon, who coached the Orange County North All-Star team to victory last year, coached Orange from 1977-79. He returned to Orange in 1985 and guided the Panthers to the Pacific Coast League championship and a first-round victory in the Southern Section Desert-Mountain Conference playoffs.

Irvine High School’s football team will have two coaches next season, Irvine Coach Terry Henigan said Wednesday.

Henigan, the Vaqueros’ head coach for seven years, said he recommended to the Irvine administration that Irvine offensive coordinator Rick Curtis become co-coach.

Irvine Principal Gary Norton and Athletic Director Barry Schulenburg approved Henigan’s proposal on Monday.

Curtis, 32, has been an Irvine assistant for two years. He was University High football coach from 1980-85. Henigan said Curtis will be primarily responsible for the offense, with Henigan responsible for the defense.

“I looked at the situation at Irvine High School and looked at my situation as head coach,” Henigan said. “And I saw Rick, an assistant who wanted very much to be a head coach. I figured (the move) would be best for all of us to pursue.

“We’ve both been working on our (offensive and defensive) sides for two years,” Henigan said. “All we’ve really done is carried that a step further.”

Adam Keefe of Woodbridge High School and Michele Granger of Valencia were named the Orange County athletes of the year by the Orange County Athletic Directors’ Assn. at the association’s spring meeting Wednesday.

Keefe, who led Woodbridge’s basketball team to the Southern Section 2-A finals and the Southern California Division II regional semifinals, averaged 26.3 points and 14.4 rebounds. He will attend Stanford.

Granger, 19-3 this season, holds national high school records for single-season strikeouts, career strikeouts and single-season no-hitters. She has led her team to the Southern Section 3-A semifinals the past two years and is in the playoffs again this season. She will attend California.

Keefe and Granger will each receive a $500 scholarship from the Coca-Cola Bottling Co.