Coach Gains Loyal Following With His Family Atmosphere

Thirty-four years later, Lad Salness is still asked whether he was named after Alan Ladd, the movie star. And each time he’s asked, he explains that his parents, Betty and Gordon, did not name him after a movie star. They named him after their dog.

“It was Lad-A-Dog. They told me the other choice was Rip.”

He also explains that he’s not the only Salness named after a canine. His brother, Ty, was named after a black Labrador retriever. Sisters Jo, Kit and Kym were named after neighbors’ dogs.

Exactly why the Salness house was filled with children named after dogs has never been clear to Lad, but growing up in, and outside, that house has left an indelible mark.

You can see it in the boundless energy that makes it difficult to distinguish a 34-year-old man from the teen-agers he coaches. You can see it in the fact that his No. 1 assistant football and boys’ volleyball coach is his wife, Ann.

You can see it in the fact that he has turned around the University High School boys’ volleyball program with personal experience that amounts to a couple years of playing intramurals at the University of Oregon.

University, a team that was 2-10 three years ago, began this season ranked No. 4 in Orange County. University, a team that was 3-10 two years ago, finished second to Laguna Beach Saturday in the prestigious Orange County Boys’ Volleyball Championships, beating Sea View League rivals Corona del Mar, ranked No. 2 in the county, and Newport Harbor along the way.

University finished third in the Sea View League last season without a senior in the starting lineup.

It’s a tall team that includes 6-foot-8 Stefan Mumaw, 6-6 Pat Ferrell, as well as several players at 6-4.

Comparing skill level to last year’s 10-5 team, Salness says it’s “night and day.” The great things that are expected for this team are only matched by the great things expected for the future. The frosh-soph, coached by Ann, and the junior varsity went a combined 28-1 last season.

“He’s built something that’s going to last,” said Dan Glenn, Newport Harbor coach.

To know how he has done this requires a trip home.

Salness, who has coached football for six years and volleyball for four years at University, comes from an athletic home. Jo went on to play volleyball at Cal State Long Beach. Ty was a defensive back on three Rose Bowl teams at USC. Kit was a member of the U.S. diving team that was supposed to go to Moscow in 1980, but didn’t because of the U.S. boycott.

“She’s still ticked about that one,” Lad said.

Growing up, the kids played and they played all the time.

“My mom would feed us breakfast, kick us out of the house, feed us lunch and kick us out again,” he said. “I’m not kidding about that. She really would not let us back in. So we just played all day.”

They played every kind of sport with every kind of combination. There was no consideration given for age or size or talent.

Today, Salness promises any player who comes out for the University volleyball program’s lower levels will play, no matter his age, size or talent. For years, boys’ volleyball coaches have come and gone at University, frustrated that they couldn’t attract athletes to their program.

“I don’t know what it was, but boys’ volleyball wasn’t a real popular sport,” said Mike Puritz, who coached at University from 1976 to 1981.

Puritz made the playoffs once while at University. Glenn went 4-13 in 1983, his one season at the school.

“I just couldn’t get the kids to come out,” Glenn said. “The football and basketball players looked down on anyone who would go out for volleyball.”

Puritz has gone on to success as the women’s coach at UC Irvine and Glenn won a Southern Section championship two seasons ago at Newport Harbor. They’re good coaches, but they couldn’t win at University.

“He does a great job of selling,” Glenn said.

There are eight kids off the football team in the University volleyball program, and at least 10 basketball players. There’s no doubt that Salness’ position as head freshman football coach has paid off. There’s also no doubt that Salness has something to do with it. A biology teacher, Salness was voted University’s most popular teacher by a vote of the students at the end of the 1987-88 school year.

He practices with his team, he plays in scrimmages. It’s no mistake when Ann says, “The kids want to come out and play with Lad.”

His players say they’re surprised how hard he makes them work because they never feel as if they’re working that hard.

“He makes you have fun,” said Darren Sherman, University back-row specialist. “Everything is geared for having fun. You never think about it as work.”

Sherman also played freshman football for Salness. He was there the first day of practice that Lad brought Ann to coach.

The two had met a few years before, when Lad asked Ann to dance while both were counselors at a YMCA summer camp. Lad had been a walk-on football player at the University of Oregon before injuries took their toll. He knew he wanted to coach. After he and Ann--then an art student at Cal State Long Beach--started dating, Lad thought Ann would be a natural as an assistant.

“She was a great athlete, she was great with people, a natural teacher,” he said. “Besides, it was a way to get more time with my best friend.”

Sherman remembers hearing a few chuckles and seeing a few smirks that first day of football practice.

“Lad split the guys into two teams. He put a lot of the best athletes on one team, then he put me and his wife and some other people on the other,” Sherman said. “The first play, Ann goes long (45 yards) and catches a touchdown pass. She beat the fastest guy on the team. She did it again on the next play. After that, no one had any questions.”

Ann, who has coached football for four years, coached wide receivers the first season and last season was in charge of defensive backs and running backs. Salness is honestly surprised that others find it unusual that his wife coaches boys in football and volleyball.

“Growing up in my family, the girls were just as good as the guys,” he said. “If we were playing a game and someone thought about taking it easy on them, they found out real quick they were going to get beat.”