He Wins but Loses Friends : Hazelton’s Style at Montclair Prep and Several Other Stops During His 18 Seasons Has Left Him With Plenty of Enemies

As controversial high school football coaches go, John Hazelton of Van Nuys Montclair Prep may be unique in Southern California. Assistant coaches just don’t stir up this kind of animosity.

In his 18 seasons coaching at the prep level, Hazelton has gained a reputation as a charmer who will do anything to win. And wherever he has gone, accusations and complaints have followed.

Last spring, Hazelton’s alleged recruiting was one of the major reasons Montclair Prep’s football team was banned from playoff consideration for at least two seasons and all the school’s teams were banned from playoffs for the 1991-92 school year.

Even after Montclair Prep accepted its punishment, the Southern Section continued to go after Hazelton, recommending that he be suspended from coaching for a year. With Commissioner Stan Thomas leading the way, a campaign to get Hazelton out became a major concern of the Southern Section office.

But like Harry Welch, the Canyon Country Canyon coach who faced a similar charge, Hazelton fought to remain at Montclair Prep. And in the end, he won.

The Southern Section waived Hazelton’s suspension in August, three weeks after its executive committee ruled that the assistant coach was guilty of two counts of illegal recruiting. The reversal was influenced by a court ruling that granted Welch a preliminary injunction to retain his coaching position.

Hazelton’s case continues to have a ripple effect, though. No longer will the Southern Section go after individual coaches because “it does not have authority in court,” according to Thomas. Instead, a strict policy of sanctioning programs will be used. And Montclair Prep is soon expected to ask that all sanctions against the school be dropped.

“It has been made very clear to us that we can’t discipline staff, so we have to do what we have always tried to avoid, hurting kids and the playoffs,” Thomas said.

So Hazelton, 39, remains a coach, and the controversies he has stirred have not gone away.

“John is a heavy recruiter who is at a private school with no boundaries,” said Earl Smith, who coached with Hazelton at Crenshaw High in 1979-80. “I know that I’m using circumstances here, but let’s face it, he’s good at it.”

The biggest question involving Hazelton was his connection with Derek Sparks, whose prep travels prompted a major investigation. Sparks attended four high schools in four years.

Hazelton coached at Wilmington Banning for a season before Sparks transferred from Texas to Banning in 1988.

Then Hazelton returned to Montclair Prep as an assistant, after Sparks transferred there. Hazelton says he did not recruit Sparks for Montclair Prep, where Sparks spent a year before transferring to Santa Ana Mater Dei.

“Because I am still coaching, my name has been cleared on all charges,” Hazelton said. “I am glad that I had a chance in my hearing to let the truth finally come out and, hopefully, these loose allegations will no longer be made.”

But, the allegations continue.

The coaches in the Alpha League, in which Montclair Prep plays, still maintain that Hazelton is at fault and are pleased that Montclair Prep is on probation.

Said Coach Mike Plaisance of Sun Valley Village Christian, who coached with Hazelton in 1978 at now closed San Fernando Valley Christian: “It already has been proven that (Hazelton) was guilty when the (Southern Section) put (Montclair Prep) on probation. They agreed to the sanction, and they would not have done that if there was not any truth to it.

“(Hazelton) is a coach where winning or losing has made him lose perception on what’s important and what his priorities are.”

That sort of thing has been said for years but Hazelton says his opponents are just jealous of his success.

“I’m tired of hearing these guys cry,” Hazelton said about the opposing coaches in the Alpha League. “I would gladly trade teams with any of those guys at Village (Christian) or L.A. Baptist and we’ll kick their butts.

“Good athletes do help, but it is the coach, and I don’t think that I am given enough credit for my coaching ability. You can take me to the worst program in the City and give me two years and we’d be in the playoffs.”

Some coaches agree Hazelton’s coaching ability is sometimes overlooked.

“Hazelton did everything above board,” said Chuck Ferraro, coach at Valley College who had Hazelton as an assistant for three seasons. “In the coaching profession, you make a lot of friends and a lot of enemies. But, when things get bad, everyone comes out with something to say.”

Hazelton has coached at San Fernando Valley Christian, Crenshaw, Wilmington Banning and USC, with two stints at Valley College and three at Montclair Prep.

In 1971, at 19, Hazelton began his coaching career as a co-coach with George Gianinni at Montclair Prep.

The Mounties, who played eight-man football then, won the league title six of the seven years Gianinni and Hazelton coached together and reached the Southern Section final three consecutive years. They won the title in 1976.

In 1978, both left Montclair Prep, Gianinni for personal reasons and Hazelton to become an assistant for Plaisance at San Fernando Valley Christian.

“When I first met John, he was a good young eager coach,” Plaisance said. “There never was any real friction between us, and he didn’t do anything illegal here. But it wasn’t like we were best of friends. We just had a working relationship. He left because his philosophy was different than mine and he wanted bigger and better things.”

Hazelton stayed for only a season at San Fernando Valley Christian, moving to the inner city as an assistant at Crenshaw. Without any prior contact, he walked onto the practice field one afternoon and volunteered his services to the Cougar coaches, Ron Price and Smith.

In his first job outside of the San Fernando Valley area, Hazelton was an instant success. With his enthusiasm and willingness to work, he became very popular with the players and the community. He helped organize a Crenshaw booster club, and with the help of his father, a Los Angeles contractor, had a platform constructed for the field press box.

Crenshaw went from an average team to a playoff contender, but Hazelton’s relationship with Price and Smith soured.

“At first I just helped out, but then I started doing more,” Hazelton said. “I called all of the defenses my last season.”

Smith and Price, who are now co-coaches at Fairfax, say that Hazelton was not the team’s defensive coordinator, adding that he tried to buy Price out at Crenshaw before he left.

“After the (1980) season, I was having a casual conversation with John and he just said how he could infuse more money into the program and bring more coaches,” Smith said. “But he said on one condition--that we had to get rid of (Price). Hazelton wanted the program to himself.”

Hazelton denies those charges, claiming that the community wanted changes at Crenshaw.

“I didn’t try to get Price out,” he said. “He was very unpopular, and everyone wanted him out and I just agreed. I did a lot for that program, and I left because I wanted to move on.”

Said Price: “John was a good assistant and I would have had him back if he wanted to return before he tried to buy me out. There are a lot of coaches who would stab you in the back or cut your throat. It is all part of the business. All I can say about (Hazelton) is that he is one of the characters I ran across in my 29 years in the business.”

In 1981, Hazelton left Crenshaw to go to Valley College, where he coached under Ferraro for two seasons. After one season there, Hazelton opened another controversy when he accepted a position as co-coach at Montclair Prep, again with Gianinni, while still working as an assistant at Valley.

He spent the season coaching in both programs.

Then in 1982, Hazelton officially left Valley College and continued to coach at Montclair Prep for three more seasons before moving on to become a volunteer assistant at USC.

After a year with Ted Tollner’s staff, Hazelton was named coach at Banning, replacing legendary Pilot coach Chris Ferragamo.

The Pilots finished 6-4-1 his first season and lost in the the first round of the playoffs. Two months after the season, he was fired.

Banning Principal Augustine Herrera said he had to fire Hazelton because the coach was not a staff teacher. Hazelton said that he’d had an agreement with the previous principal, Estela Pena, that he would become a full-time teacher at the school once he was accredited that spring.

“I was in total shock when (Herrera) told me,” Hazelton said. “I broke down and cried right in his office. I knew that the kids at Banning were wonderful and that they’d win a City title before they graduated.”

The Hazelton-Sparks connection became the focal point of Hazelton’s Southern Section hearing after the next season, when Sparks transferred to Montclair Prep and Hazelton followed after leaving Valley again.

Hazelton says he was contacted first by the Sparks family and did not have any influence on Sparks’ enrollment at Montclair Prep. He says his return to his old school and Gianinni had nothing to do with Sparks’ transfer.