Vollnogle’s Record Gets a Recount : High school football: His victories include 21 as a B-team coach.

A check of Gene Vollnogle’s coaching record has revealed that the longtime Carson High football coach does not have a chance to reach 300 career varsity victories when the Colts play at Lynwood at 7:30 Friday night.

According to Carson’s record book, Vollnogle won his 299th game last week, when Carson defeated Bishop Amat, 37-26, in its opener. The record book shows Vollnogle entered this season with a career mark of 298-75-1.

But in checking Vollnogle’s record, The Times has discovered that he was credited with 21 victories as Banning’s “B” team coach from 1954-56. Subtracting the 21-3 record of those three seasons, Vollnogle’s varsity mark is actually 278-72-1.

“That’s the first I’ve heard about it,” said Tim Finney, who has kept Carson’s statistics and record book since 1970. “Geez, all I know is what (Vollnogle) told me. That’s been in our books for years. I never thought to question it.”

Vollnogle said the number of victories reported in the Carson record book reflected his “head coaching record.” But nowhere is it mentioned that the games listed are anything other than varsity contests.

“I’ve always maintained the record is for career wins,” Vollnogle said. “Everyone who knows me knows I coached the Banning ‘B’ team for three years. I guess Finney probably forgot to specify that in the record book.”

The oversight resulted in USA Today reporting Tuesday that Vollnogle was going after his 300th career victory, a rare accomplishment. A similar story ran Wednesday in the Torrance Daily Breeze.

Vollnogle, who plans to retire after this season, has coached high school football for 38 seasons at Banning and Carson, the last 34 as a varsity coach. His career varsity record is 54-7 at Banning from 1957 to ’62 and 224-65-1 at Carson from 1963 to the present.

The revised record still leaves Vollnogle as the winningest varsity coach in state history.