Ciarelli Named Newport Harbor Assistant Coach

Tony Ciarelli, who this year led the Edison High School track and field team to a Sunset League championship in his first year as head coach, has accepted a full-time coaching and teaching position at Newport Harbor High.

Ciarelli, 35, will teach history at Newport Harbor in addition to being an assistant football and assistant track and field coach.

Ciarelli was an assistant coach at Edison as a walk-on beginning 1982 until last spring when he became the head track coach. He was a substitute with the Huntington Beach Union High School District in 1987, but this year decided to seek a full-time teaching position.

“It was just the perfect opening for me,” Ciarelli said. “I probably would’ve stayed at Edison another year, and then left for . . . somewhere. This is a good situation.”

Ciarelli said he will coach receivers on the football team and help out with the weight program during the fall. The latter responsibility is well-suited for Ciarelli, a longtime strength enthusiast and one-time weightlifting competitor.

At Edison, Ciarelli helped coach the sophomore football squad, which has gone 30-0 in the past three years, winning three Sunset League championships.

But Ciarelli was best known for his track and field coaching, especially in the shotput. In 1988, Kaleaph Carter of Edison won a state championship in that event.