Prep Wednesday : ON THE SIDELINES : Whether They’re Retired or Fired, Former Coaches Need Time to Adjust

As the last glimmer of sunlight faded on the stucco, Ken Bell sat in his back yard relaxing. A book in his hand, a cold drink close by, he was enjoying the mid-summer evening.

At that moment, Bell realized he was no longer the Buena Park High School basketball coach.

“I realized if I was still coaching, I would be at a summer league game,” said Bell, who resigned in the spring of 1988 after 19 seasons at Buena Park. “It made me smile. And, yet, I was a little sad.”

Coaches who leave coaching--whether it’s their own decision, a principal’s request or mutual agreement--face drastic changes in their lives.

For most, the adjustment is as easy as teeing up a golf ball or casting a fishing line. A few find the sudden free time too much and search for other avenues to fill the void. And it’s not only the coaches who are fired or asked to resign who have difficulty adjusting.

There always are reminders.

Kids, whose athletic careers they once controlled, still ask advice. Parents, some who might have questioned decisions in the past, still ask questions. And then there’s always the painful task of watching their former teams play and someone else being called “coach.”

“I got completely away,” said Gene Lloyd, who coached basketball at Brea-Olinda for 12 seasons. “That’s the most healthy situation. I didn’t want people to be confused who was running Brea’s program.”

But to do that, Lloyd had to leave the school entirely. After he resigned in 1986, he sold life insurance for a year.

Lloyd returned to teaching in 1987, but at Brea-Olinda Junior High School. A place where he could still distance himself.

Others, who remain at their schools teaching, don’t have it as easy.

“I couldn’t just walk away from teaching,” said Bill Crow, former Mission Viejo football coach. “I would miss the interaction with the kids. Whether it’s teaching in the classroom or coaching on the field, those relationships are too valuable. Besides, I’d make a terrible salesman.”

In the spring of 1988, Crow resigned, turning the program over to Mike Rush, who had been an assistant at Mission Viejo for 10 seasons.

Crow, who won one Southern Section championship, held a team meeting to announce his decision and then got as far away from the program as he could. He felt that in order for Rush to be successful, he could not have the “former coach” hanging around.

“I never went to any of the practices, although I did see about half the games,” he said. “It was difficult being totally removed. I always see the kids around school and around town. But you have to give the new coach room.”

Bell teaches health at Buena Park High School and his classroom is located right next to the gymnasium. It might as well be a mile away.

Bell didn’t stick as much as a big toe--let alone a big nose--inside the gymnasium for the first three months of the school year.

If the new coach, Ed Matillo, wanted some advice, that was fine. Bell would offer if requested, but he didn’t want the players to see him hanging around.

“I wanted to make sure the kids understood who was the coach,” Bell said. “Finally I couldn’t resist, I slipped in there one day to see how things were going. I was impressed with what I saw and left.”

Staying away can be easier for a coach who is asked to leave. They not only don’t want to be there and don’t exactly feel welcome.

Al Herring said he was asked to resign as the Irvine basketball coach in 1987 because of the team’s lack of success. Irvine had never qualified for the Southern Section playoffs during Herring’s nine seasons as coach.

His son, Mark, played on the team in 1987-88, so Herring attended all the games. When Mark graduated in 1988, Herring had no desire to see any games, let alone sneak a peek at practice.

“I really kept a low profile,” Herring said. “Probably because of all the hard times we had to go through (with being fired). You sort of divorce yourself from the whole picture.”

Irvine finished second in the South Coast League and reached the Southern Section 5-A championship game last season. Yet, to Herring, it was just another basketball team.

“I followed the team in the papers,” Herring said. “I’m a spectator now.”

Crow has said those words on a few occasions, usually to parents.

During the 1988 season, Crow was approached at times by parents who questioned how Rush was handling the team. Most disagreed with how their kids were being used.

“Being a guy who had been the coach for a long time, I knew I would be put in those situations,” Crow said.

“It would usually be something like, ‘Why isn’t my kid on the first team?’ I would stop them at that point and tell them, ‘Coach Rush is who you need to talk to.’ I didn’t want to be in the middle of anything.”

Bob Lester, who coached El Modena’s football team for 20 years, has stayed out of the fray between parents and Coach Bill Backstrom since resigning in 1985.

Lester still teaches physical education, but has never wandered out to the practice field.

In fact, Lester, who teaches physical education at El Modena, rarely attends games. And when he does, he stands on the opponents’ sidelines, where he’s out of sight.

“I don’t deal with any parents and I don’t go to booster meetings,” said Lester, who guided the Vanguards to three Southern Section championships. “I just teach now. Of course, there’s always some irate people who don’t like how you teach. But in football, your product is on the field every Friday night and there are 3,000 pros sitting in the stands.

“Of course, El Modena still has a real good football team. I think that makes it easier for the parents to deal with.”

But while parents are easy--and sometimes preferable--to avoid, kids are not. Giving advice to former players can be tempting and delicate.

After all, most players still regard former coaches as mentors.

“I had a couple of seniors come to me this year,” Bell said. “They told me they didn’t want to play basketball anymore. It was a tough thing to deal with, you don’t want to push them away. But I had to to tell them to talk with their coach.”

Crow often talks to players, usually about such subjects as picking a college. But he stays away from discussing the team situation, although those sort of problems rarely come up.

However, his relationship with players has changed.

“I use to spend four or five hours a day with them, now I’m more like a friend,” Crow said. “They’ll come to my office every now and then or drop by the house just to see how I’m doing. But they’re not constantly on my mind like before.”

Which, in some cases, might be good.

“I’m certainly not their boss anymore,” Lester said. “When I was coaching and one of my players did something during school hours, I would usually get a note from a teacher telling me about it. I was responsible for them, now I’m not.”

And with fewer responsibilities comes more free time.

Coaches, who once spent several hours a day in practice, viewing film and preparing game plans, have to find ways to fill their time. For some, it’s easy.

“Hey, my biggest worry now is who I’m going to play golf with each day,” Lester said. “You’re talking about a total success story.”

Lester, who will retire after next year, has had three years to find ways to occupy his time. Besides golf, he hunts and fishes.

However, coaches who have recently resigned have found adjusting a little more difficult.

“You’re on a different schedule,” Bell said. “All of a sudden it’s 3 p.m. and you’re done for the day. There’s no practice to go to, no games. You’re through.”

Bell has taken a second job for the afternoon. After he’s done teaching, he works for a sales representative for a trophy company.

“I had to do something, I might as well get paid for it,” he said. “My tennis game has also gotten a little better and my wife likes me a little more. So I guess things are working out.”

Lloyd also needed something to do with his time, so he volunteered to sponsor the junior high’s baseball card club called the 52 Mantle Club (named after the 1952 Mickey Mantle card, which is worth approximately $6,200 today).

Well, volunteered is not exactly what happened.

“My son and the principal’s son started the club eight or nine years ago,” Lloyd said. “(Principal) Mike Condiff was the sponsor, but when I came back to teach here, he asked me to co-sponsor the club. That was the last I saw of Mike.”

Still, Lloyd’s not complaining. The club fills up one afternoon per week. The rest of his time? Well, there’s always basketball.

Lloyd spent too many years coaching the game to walk away from it completely. He attends all of Brea’s home games and also goes to other high school games in the area.

“The only thing I really miss is the game itself,” Lloyd said. “I see all the Brea home games. I can just sit and watch a game now and enjoy it.”

Most former coaches can’t resist going to see their old teams play. And for some, it’s a learning experience.

“I never realized how many things were going on at a football game,” Crow said. “I went to the opener last season. I had just sat down and they announced, ‘Everybody stand up for the kickoff.’ I didn’t know what the heck was going on. Do they always do that?

“When you’re coaching, your mind is always focused on the game. You don’t hear or see the things that are going on, off the field. I loved the halftime show with the band. I’d never seen one before.”

But watching the team play also can bring the itch to coach again. And few former coaches are ready to rule out that possibility.

“Nothing’s etched in stone,” Bell said. “One of these days I may get back into it.”