HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PREVIEW : Grimes Overcomes ‘Lone Ranger’ Status

Hell Week, it must be duly noted, is none too cool for the coaches, either.

Consider the case of Fred Grimes, football coach at North Hollywood High.

During his Hell Week in August, Grimes scheduled 6 a.m. meetings with his two non-paid, college-age assistants. Living more than a half-hour from school, Grimes was on the road while most of us were in REM.

And, he had to be asking himself as he knocked the sand out of his eyes, “Was it worth it?”

Entering the 1989 season, Grimes had been through a hell of his own, battling with school administrators to add Chad Fenwick, a former assistant at Pierce College, to his staff.

The administration considered the proposition but offered no promises, leaving Grimes with the prospect of manning the ship by himself.

Grimes, in turn, considered lowering the lifeboat and resigning. His friends echoed the sentiment.

“I told him to resign,” said Sylmar Coach Jeff Engilman, a longtime friend. “I told him to give it up. He’s in a no-win situation.”

Without Fenwick, there was one credentialed teacher in the entire North Hollywood football program. And Grimes could see that one person if he tilted his car mirror and looked directly into it.

Coaching 74 rambunctious high school kids by yourself can be about as appealing as, well, as appealing as it sounds.

Sure, Grimes did have help from his two young assistants, Valley College students Brad Bock and Jason Garrison, but everything they knew about coaching, they were learning from Grimes.

So, entering two-a-days, motoring down the freeway in the pre-dawn hours, Fred Grimes was a kind of Atlas, with the world of North Hollywood football resting entirely on his shoulders.

And then a funny thing happened. Fred Grimes began to enjoy himself.

“When you realize you’re the Lone Ranger,” Grimes said, “you don’t commit suicide. You back up, you regroup, you improvise.

“I sat down with the two kids and said here’s what we have to do. And I’ll be damned if we didn’t accomplish it.”

Slowly, the challenge took on an appealing air to Grimes. He fed off the energy of his assistants. He began to love coaching again.

“I’d walk off the field totally exhausted at night. Just totally exhausted,” Grimes said. “And all they’d want to do is watch film. All they’d want to do is learn. It was kind of neat. It was a kind of rejuvenation.”

And let that rejuvenation stand as a harbinger of things to come in the East Valley League.

Sparked by either talented personnel or talented coaching staffs, traditionally downtrodden programs such as Grant and Poly are taking on signs of new life. Meanwhile, Sylmar, under the steady, successful hands of Engilman and his assistants, should have yet another winning season.

And at North Hollywood?

“To be honest, I got more depressed this week, when all the teachers came back for the new year,” Grimes said. “With everybody learning about my situation and coming up to me and saying ‘You gotta be kidding. They can’t do that to you,’ I got tired of answering questions.

“You know, I enjoy the kids and then people are saying, ‘I can’t believe your situation.’ So I say, ‘Great, just let me go on about my business.’ ”

Charity would have been welcomed at Poly in mid-August when Coach Kevin Kennedy resigned, citing frustration with the administration over the lack of on-campus coaches. When Kennedy left, there was no one in the program to step in. With two-a-days looming, Poly turned to an outsider, Fred Cuccia.

Today, Cuccia has a six-man staff and three paid positions. Cuccia and the crew split up the checks to finance all six.

“I don’t know how (Kennedy) dealt with the administration,” Cuccia said. “But they’ve been real cooperative in helping me put together a program.”

Cuccia seems well-suited for the position. He took over programs at South Pasadena and Hoover when each was a league doormat and turned each into contenders. He faces another rebuilding project at Poly, which was 0-7 in league play last season and 2-8 overall.

“We’re working on getting more kids out, getting the better athletes,” Cuccia said. “Once you get the kids out, the kids are the ones who sell the program.

“If the kids are having fun, and they see you’re fair and honest with them, they’re going to be successful.”

A similar approach has produced results at Sylmar where Engilman and his staff have a team that is the prohibitive favorite. Running back Jerome Casey may be the City’s best, and linebacker-tight end London Woodfin and wide receiver-defensive back Stacy Lyons are Division I prospects.

But Engilman credits his staff for all his success.

Grimes, meanwhile, credits Engilman.

“He’s been able to keep his staff together and that’s a credit to Jeff,” he said.

Engilman credits assistants such as Darryl McIntyre, a former nose guard at Cal State Northridge, and Obie Brown, a Sylmar teacher who doubles as the offensive coordinator, with strengthening his program.

“Assistant coaches do the job,” Engilman said. “And I’ve got a heckuva group of guys that have been part of the community. There’s no such thing as a head coach, in my opinion.”

Engilman still downplays his team’s chances by talking up a rising Grant team. But the catch is that Grant, indeed, should have its best team in years.

During Coach Bill Foster’s four seasons, Grant’s best record has been 4-5. This year’s Lancers likely will finish above .500. Tailback Shawn Booker, quarterback Marlowe Lewis and lineman Nick Avila are among the best in the league.

Foster’s staff lost Tom Meusborn, who left to become Chatsworth’s baseball coach, but Bob Prado has joined a staff that includes three walk-on coaches.

Foster won’t delve into predictions. That’s not his style.

“I don’t worry about that kind of stuff,” he said. “But we’ve got some good ballplayers, there’s no doubt about that.”

And, in turn, there is little doubt that, by East Valley League standards, it should be a season brimming with optimism. It’s easy for Sylmar and Grant, the two more polished teams in the league, to think positively in 1989.

But at Poly, where gray clouds traditionally gather over the football field each fall, Cuccia is working to change that.

And at North Hollywood, where an embattled Grimes could have given up and walked, he didn’t.

“During double days, we didn’t accomplish anything that we would have accomplished if Fenwick had been there,” Grimes said.

“But you know what? It was a week I really enjoyed.”

Tomorrow: the Mid-Valley League

EAST VALLEY LEAGUE FINAL 1988 STANDINGS Sylmar 7-4, 5-2 North Hollywood 4-6, 4-3 Grant 3-6, 2-5 Poly 2-8, 0-7 PROJECTED FINISHSylmar Grant North Hollywood Poly PLAYERS TO WATCH

Player School Pos. Ht Wt Class Nick Avila Grant OL/DL 6-3 265 Sr. Shawn Booker Grant RB 5-11 165 Sr. Jonathan Campbell Poly RB/S 5-10 175 Jr. Jerome Casey Sylmar RB/S 6-0 185 Sr. John Gawronski North Hollywood OL/LB 6-3 205 Jr. Marlowe Lewis Grant QB 5-10 165 Sr. Mike Lewis North Hollywood TB/DB 5-11 175 Sr. Stacy Lyons Sylmar WR/CB 5-10 160 Sr. Joseph Vaughn Sylmar WR/CB 6-1 175 Sr. London Woodfin Sylmar TE/LB 6-3 225 Sr.