Corona del Mar’s New Coach Faces a Unique Challenge : Volleyball: In taking over a successful and prestigious program, Lance Stewart will be in the spotlight.

Lance Stewart was a six-foot, 175-pound whirlwind of athletic grace at Laguna Beach High School, where he was an All-Southern Section football, basketball and volleyball player in 1980-81.

But he has grown up--and out--since his prep days. He is 29, married (his wife is expecting their first child) and tips the scales at about 225.

“I can’t remember seeing 175 on the scale,” Stewart said. “Actually, I see it go by real fast, for about a split second.”

Such changes have brought Stewart to grips with his athletic mortality. He tried playing slow-pitch softball last year and tore a hamstring. He tried pickup basketball last winter and broke his ankle.

“My body is falling apart because I’m out of shape,” Stewart said.

But you could hardly say the same about his coaching career, which is coming together rather nicely.

After spending the past six years in a variety of coaching capacities, ranging from high school junior varsity to college Division I level, Stewart last spring landed the Corona del Mar High School girls’ volleyball job, perhaps the most prestigious of its kind in Orange County.

Stewart has coached at Laguna Beach High (boys’ varsity from 1987-90, girls’ varsity from 1989-90), the Laguna Beach Volleyball Club (1987-90) and UC Irvine (men’s assistant in 1991), and he is currently the men’s coach at Rancho Santiago College. But none of those positions put him in the limelight the way Corona del Mar will.

The Sea Kings have won three Southern Section titles (1977, ‘78, ‘90) and two State titles (1984 and ‘90). They have a high-powered program that is closely associated with one of the nation’s most successful club teams (Orange County Volleyball) and closely watched by followers with high expectations.

If Stewart does well at Corona del Mar, people will notice. And if certain people notice him doing well--namely college athletic administrators--Stewart hopes he can springboard from Corona del Mar to an even higher level.

“I want to keep moving up, but I’m pretty patient,” said Stewart, who replaced Mark Rivadeneyra. “I enjoy working with high school kids. I expect to be here for at least four or five years. The talent here is as good as a lot of college teams, but eventually I’d love to have my own Division I program.”

Though Stewart experienced success at Laguna Beach--his boys’ and girls’ teams combined for a 131-19 record and won league each season--the jump from the Pacific Coast League to Sea View League will provide much more of a challenge and should be a better test of his coaching abilities.

With a starting lineup consisting of six potential Division I college players, Corona del Mar will likely enter the season as the county’s top-ranked team. But the Sea Kings also play in one of the nation’s most competitive leagues against such teams as Newport Harbor, Irvine, University, Woodbridge and Santa Margarita.

“In the Pacific Coast League, I didn’t call a timeout in two years, but here everything’s going to be a battle,” Stewart said. “At Laguna Beach, we’d walk into the gym knowing we would win, and we tended to relax a bit. These kids have to be more focused.

“As a coach that might be easier, because I won’t have to spend as much time giving speeches to get them pumped up--they’ll already be pumped. We’ll have to spend more time scouting and preparing for two tough league games a week rather than just showing up and serving the ball over the net.”

Stewart also expects to spend a little more time with parents than he is used to. Corona del Mar has one of the county’s more vocal and aggressive booster clubs, and friends warned Stewart before he took the job that there might be some interference.

But Stewart hopes to head off any conflicts with some keen management skills.

“I want parents to get involved, but problems arise when kids don’t know where they stand,” Stewart said. “When that happens, they usually go to the parents and the parents come to me.

“If I keep all 12 kids involved, feeling important, then we’re not going to have problems. When you neglect the non-starters or put some players above others, that’s when you get team turmoil. I’ve never had that problem and don’t anticipate it here.”

Sea King players who are used to the grueling, intense workouts under highly demanding Orange County Volleyball Club Coach Charlie Brande will find a little different atmosphere at Corona del Mar this fall.

Not that Stewart’s practices will have a country-club feeling--they won’t. They just won’t be quite as militant.

“I don’t want to make it sound like my way is better, but I’m more laid-back, and I emphasize having fun,” Stewart said. “I like to allow the athletes to be creative and give them a little more leeway. You don’t have to do something one way--if you do it well your way, fine.”

Stewart’s casual look--he’s partial to blue jeans, cowboy boots and an occasional dip of chewing tobacco--should generate a more relaxed feeling, but players shouldn’t spread their lounge chairs just yet.

“If you play for Charlie Brande, you’ve got to be dedicated,” Stewart said. “And you’ve got to be the same for me.”

Stewart certainly was during his playing days. He was a four-year varsity starter on the volleyball team, and his setting skills helped the Artists to a 30-0 record and a Southern Section championship in 1981.

He played quarterback on the football team for three years and point guard on the basketball team for two, helping the Artists to 7-3 (football) and 17-7 (basketball) records his senior year.

Stewart passed for 1,414 yards and 17 touchdowns to lead Saddleback College to an 11-0 record and a Pony Bowl championship in 1981. He accepted a football scholarship to California but left the program after one season because of conflicts with the coaching staff, which tried him at three different positions.

He remained at the school, playing club volleyball and coaching at Alameda St. Joseph High, and eventually graduated with a degree in fine arts. He is now an accomplished artist who specializes in abstract landscapes and currently has works in galleries in Laguna Beach and Scottsdale, Ariz.

“If I did it full-time I could make a living at it, but I don’t want to give up coaching and teaching,” Stewart said.

Stewart paints in his spare time. And in addition to his volleyball coaching jobs, he will teach evening physical education classes at Rancho Santiago and be a substitute teacher at Corona del Mar this fall.

He is also trying to start a volleyball recruiting and scouting service, in which he plans to put together resume and video packages of Orange County high school players to send to prospective colleges.

“There’s not much time to sleep,” Stewart said. “I go through a 12-pack of Coke a day.”

Yes, the big guy seems to be spreading himself a little thin. That’s why he’d eventually like to coach at a higher level.

“I’ve coached for a long time, but I’ve always had to do a million other things to get by,” Stewart said. “It would be nice to have a Division I job with a guaranteed income where I could really commit myself to coaching.”