Garrison to Head Football Program at St. Francis

St. Francis High will name the seventh football coach in the school’s 40-year history when Bill Garrison is introduced at a press conference today at the La Canada school.

Garrison was selected Monday to replace Terry Terrazone, who resigned at the end of the season to become an assistant at Glendale College.

Garrison, who worked as an assistant at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo last fall, will move to the area within a month. He will join the St. Francis faculty in the fall as a science and physical education teacher.

Garrison, 31, began his coaching career in 1981 as an assistant at Alemany. He was an assistant for one year each at Calabasas and St. Paul in Santa Fe Springs before moving to Fairfield High near Sacramento where he served four years as an assistant.

The opening at St. Francis was made known to Garrison by his mother-in-law, who had seen an advertisement in The Tidings, a publication serving the Catholic community.

“I was familiar with the area because I coached down there before, but I haven’t met anyone on the football staff or any of the players,” he said. “As an outsider looking in, I’m excited that they decided to go outside of St. Francis for a coach.”

The past two head coaches came from the St. Francis community.

Terrazone, who was hired in 1983, and Brian Fogarty (1979-82) are St. Francis graduates. Terrazone compiled a 24-39-2 record and Fogarty was 28-18-2.

St. Francis was 4-7 last fall and lost in the first round of the Southern Section Division I playoffs to Fountain Valley--the eventual champion--39-0.

The most successful coach in school history is Jack Friedman, who began coaching at the school in 1953 and compiled a 157-69-9 record. His teams won nine league and two Southern Section titles.