At Mary Star, the ‘Coach Wanted’ Sign Is Always Out : Despite Strong Tradition in Athletics and Community Support, School Struggles With Lack of Facilities and Small Enrollment

Since 1984, Mary Star of the Sea High School has gone through four football coaches. The fifth, Mike Marinkovich, plans to remain around longer than his predecessors.

Marinkovich takes over this year for Jim Gasso, who left in June before coaching a single game. John Tousseau, Gerry Duffy and Jerry Aguilar have all exited, too, unable to duplicate the feats of Joe Radisich, who last coached the Stars in 1983 and is regarded by many as the best football coach in the school’s history.

At the end of the last school year, Mary Star lost basketball Coach Jim Bobich to Bel-Air Prep, Athletic Director Bob Tompson to Daniel Murphy and Gasso to UC Santa Cruz, where he is assistant athletic director.

As of this week, the school had not named a basketball coach, nor does it have coaches for its three girls teams, according to new Athletic Director Peter Ornelas. Despite its strong tradition in athletics and academics, and its support from the community, Mary Star has had problems keeping coaches. Aguilar coached football the last two seasons. “Mary Star has a completely different set of problems,” he said. “It’s hard to coach there. It’s extremely difficult to coach where there are no facilities, no field and (few) boys.”

The Catholic school in San Pedro has about 260 students, according to Principal Patrick Markey. Out of about 125 to 130 boys, the school fields teams in cross country, football, basketball, volleyball and baseball.

But low enrollment isn’t the only problem, according to Aguilar. He cited differences in philosophy with the administration. “It’s a loyalty thing,” he said. “You have some people there who are loyal to themselves before they are loyal to the school.

“You have people there who don’t understand tradition. Most schools have (athletic letter) sweaters. At Mary Star, they think it’s antiquated. You’re not just getting rid of sweaters, you’re getting rid of tradition.”

Aguilar said he got along with Markey but that Markey’s “philosophies had changed.”

Tompson, the former athletic director, said the school’s administration did not know which direction it wanted the athletic department to go. He said his “major frustration” was that the administration failed to make a commitment to full-time coaches.

“At St. Bernard they make a big effort to get full-time coaches, to get coaches on campus to work with the kids,” Tompson said. “You’ve got to make a commitment to getting full-time coaches.”

Tompson said Gasso and Bobich were “excellent young coaches; when you lose people like that, you’ve got a problem.”

Bobich’s predecessor was Charles Johnson, who coached at Mary Star for eight years and is now the basketball coach at Cantwell in Montebello. After coaching under three principals and four athletic directors, Johnson left Mary Star in 1988 when his contract was not renewed.

Johnson’s teams, like many others at Mary Star, succeeded well beyond expectations. In 1983, the Stars were divisional champions of the extremely competitive Camino Real League.

“I thought I was well-liked at Mary Star,” he said. “It was a good experience for me, but people have a tendency to be selfish.”

Johnson said he has no idea why the school let him go, but added, “I have no qualms with anybody up there. I enjoyed my time there, the kids were great and we had loyal parents.”

Markey attributed the high turnover in coaches to a number of personal and professional factors, adding that salary was also a major reason.

“The teachers deserve a lot more than we can give them; we can’t pay like the public schools,” Markey said. “Economics will always be the bottom line.”

The key for private schools’ existence is enrollment, and Mary Star is currently increasing its recruiting efforts at the local Catholic grammar schools--Holy Trinity, Mary Star elementary, St. Peter and Paul and Holy Family. Markey said the incoming freshman class is larger than the other three classes at Mary Star and that the school has stopped the downward trend in enrollment.

Enrollment has been hurt by the increase in tuition, now $1,850 a year, and the changing demographics in San Pedro. Baseball Coach Frank Ponce De Leon said spiraling housing costs make it hard for young families to live in San Pedro, making fewer high school students available. Besides, asked Ponce De Leon, “why should a kid come to Mary Star and pay tuition when he can go to Banning or San Pedro for free?”

Radisich knows one way to bring kids back: win football games.

Whenever Mary Star football comes up, the name Joe Radisich is invoked. He resurrected the football program in 1974 shortly after the school went co-ed and stayed until 1983. Radisich coached the Stars to their greatest seasons, reaching the CIF semifinals in 1981 and 1983.

“When we were having our good years, we had over 600 kids,” said Radisich, who will be a part-time assistant this year under Marinkovich, who played for Radisich. “When you start winning, you bring in kids. Who wants to go to a school with a losing program?”

Ponce De Leon knows exactly what a winning football team does. “Football sets the pace,” he said. “You need a steady winning program to attract kids. If the football team has a good season, the rest of the athletic program is given a lift.”

Last year’s football team went 6-5 and lost in the first round of the playoffs. The baseball team was 19-6 and lost in the second round of the playoffs.

Low enrollment hurts the girls athletic program as well. Last year’s girls basketball team had seven members and at one point was recruiting cheerleaders to play.

Aguilar thinks the cheerleading squad has hurt girls sports. Markey said the cheerleading squad is important and gives support to the teams. Still, the question must be asked: Does it make sense to have a large cheerleading squad when only seven girls are on the basketball team?

“I know some can play sports,” said Athletic Director Ornelas, who coached girls basketball last year. “But it’s a good thing; you have to cheer for the team.”

Ornelas hopes the school can add soccer and track to the athletic program, but first he will concentrate on running the existing sports.

At 33, Ornelas is one of the youngest athletic directors in the state, if not the country. “It’s a challenge for me,” he said. “Hopefully we can turn things around.”

Marinkovich, 26, is eagerly awaiting the upcoming season. “I’m happy about the job,” he said. “I’m not worried about the past.”

Marinkovich played for Mary Star and Radisich from 1976 to ‘80, when he was an All-CIF offensive lineman. He then played for Notre Dame, where he earned his degree in accounting. After a two-year stint in the accounting business, Marinkovich returned to his loves--football and Mary Star.

“I’m from the area, I went to Mary Star grammar school and Mary Star, I know how things work around here,” he said.

“He is from the community, the community is very supportive of him, and he comes into the position with high hopes,” Markey said.

“The reason I’m going back to help is Mike,” Radisich said. “We’ll get it turned around.”

Marinkovich doesn’t care about the problems of the past, he cares about winning the Santa Fe League championship.

“When people ask me what’s going on at Mary Star,” he said, “I tell them we’re working to be league champs.”