Popovich Decides He Won’t Move to Colorado for Job

Steve Popovich, who resigned as varsity basketball coach at Marina High School in May, won’t be moving to Aurora, Colo., to accept a similar position after all.

Popovich, 44, said Wednesday that the inability to sell his house in San Clemente led to his decision to decline an offer to coach the basketball team at Eagle Crest High.

“It just didn’t work out,” Popovich said. “I’m looking at it (the decision not to move) as if it wasn’t supposed to happen.”

Popovich said Aurora’s administrators were unable to offer him a salary that they had originally agreed upon, and then he later learned that his benefits would be deducted from his salary.

“It all came down to being unable to sell our home,” he said. “We had the house on the market for two months. When the bad earthquake hit, everything came to a stop. I had an agreement with Aurora’s athletic director that if I couldn’t sell my house by the end of July, then I wasn’t coming.”

Popovich hopes to continue teaching geography at Marina but was uncertain about his coaching plans. Former Western Coach Greg Hoffman was hired in June to replace Popovich, and Marina Athletic Director Larry Doyle said Hoffman will coach the Vikings this season.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Popovich said. “I may become an assistant at a small college or at a junior college. Or I may take a year off from coaching. I’ve been in the routine of coaching for 20 years, and it was nice having the summer off for a change.”

Popovich resigned after 19 seasons as Marina’s coach. He compiled a 268-161 record, and his teams won six Sunset League titles.

Popovich was initially attracted to Eagle Crest High because of its facilities. The three-year-old school was constructed at a cost of $37 million and is projected to grow to 2,800 students.