Ventura’s Secret Out in the Open : Prep football: Some aren’t all that shocked at the arrest of a coach for alleged sexual misconduct with a student.

He is the most successful football coach in Ventura High history, a churchgoing Vietnam veteran who dreamed of coaching in college. Friends admire him for his devotion to his four children. Opposing coaches praise him for his dedication to his players. Dan McCashin, the student body president, describes him as a man the students looked up to as a leader.

But there is talk of another side to Harvey Kochel.

For years, the community has been haunted by rumors that Kochel, 48, acts improperly with female students. On Sept. 30, those rumors sounded like thunder when Kochel was arrested and subsequently charged with 12 felony counts of having unlawful sex with a 16-year-old Ventura High junior.

Kochel’s arrest chilled the conservative beach town. It brought into the open what one resident called “Ventura’s dirty little secret.”

The mother of a former cheerleader said: “It’s about time he was finally caught.”

Since Kochel was arrested by Ventura police and put on unpaid leave by the Ventura Unified School District, other girls have contacted the district attorney, alleging that Kochel touched them inappropriately while they were students. Lela Henke-Dobroth, supervising attorney for the district attorney’s sexual assault unit, said that investigation by her office indicates a long-term pattern of sexual misconduct by Kochel.

She added that another complaint against Kochel a few years ago--also alleging unlawful sex with a minor--had been made but that no charges were filed “for various legal reasons.”

The allegations against Kochel also raise questions about the administration at the 1,800-student high school: If the rumors were so widespread, were school officials aware of them? If they were aware, did they investigate? And if school officials had knowledge of any improprieties, what action, if any, did they take?

When Kochel was arrested, Ventura High officials expressed shock and surprise, but denied having received previous complaints about him. Gerald Dannenberg, acting personnel director for the district, said all rumors involving sexual misconduct by any teacher are “checked out,” and that the high school administration was “not involved in a cover-up” regarding Kochel.

But some say otherwise.

“The administration knew (about possible misconduct), but they did nothing about it,” said Jerry Willinsky, a former assistant football coach at the school.

Willinsky said he once found Kochel and a girl locked in Kochel’s office. No sexual activity was taking place, Willinsky said, but the situation was “uncomfortable.”

In front of staff members, Willinsky said, he discussed what he had seen with a school official, “but they never investigated.”

Another source says Kochel told her he was called on the carpet by school officials for allegedly making sexist remarks and “had to watch himself.”

Several women have told The Times that Kochel made crude or suggestive comments to them while they were students.

Said a former cheerleader who graduated in 1990: “We’d be stretching on the football field, and (Kochel) would come by with the football guys and make a rude comment. I used to call him ‘the pervert.’ You stayed clear of him.”

Chuck Samonsky, Kochel’s attorney, dismissed these allegations as “a preponderance of rumors.”

“Our response is that we’re happy to check out the veracity of rumors,” he said. “Just give us the source’s name.”

If there was a cover-up at the school, sources say, it could probably be attributed to Kochel’s stature as a coach.

“We had winning teams,” said Willinsky, now a caseworker for a social agency in Pennsylvania. “We weren’t about to upset any apple cart.”

Kochel’s glories as an all-league quarterback at the school also might have played a part.

“It was an old-boy kind of thing,” a mother of two current students said. “Harvey goes back a long way with a lot of these people.”

Kochel, whose stepfather was in the Navy, moved frequently with his family, arriving in Ventura in the late 1950s. He played football for Jack Smith in 1960 and 1961, leading the Cougars to a 6-2-1 record his senior year. Smith and players on those teams compare him to Mike Ditka in intensity and describe him as a talented athlete with a better-than-average arm.

And he was tough. One teammate remembered Kochel getting “smacked around” in practice by the defense and then challenging his offensive linemen to one-on-one drills the next day, “whipping them good.”

Smith, 76, said he was “devastated” by the news of Kochel’s arrest, but wouldn’t comment further on the case.

“He was a good general, a leader,” Smith said of Kochel, the player.

Kochel played football at Ventura College for a season and suffered a dislocated hip on the last play of his last game, causing many major colleges to lose interest in him, says his younger brother, Rex.

In 1964, Kochel went to Washington State on a football scholarship but “flunked out because he was lovesick,” said Rex, 47, who is also a coach and teacher at the high school.

Kochel returned to Ventura and was drafted into the Army in 1966. He spent a year in Vietnam in military intelligence, interrogating enemy prisoners, he says. While still in the Army, he married his high school sweetheart, Karen Gibson. After his discharge, he attended Central Washington State, playing football and baseball and gaining a measure of local fame when he and a teammate each pitched no-hitter in a doubleheader.

Kochel taught in Washington after graduating from college in 1970. He moved back to Ventura in 1973 and got a job teaching and coaching at the high school. He became head football coach in 1981, losing all 10 games that year. Since then, his teams have a 77-35-5 record and have won or shared six league championships.

“His teams were definitely a mirror of his personality,” said Rick Scott, football coach at intracity rival Buena High.

Scott considers Kochel a gentleman on the field. His first game against Kochel was in 1988, when Buena won on a controversial play.

“(Kochel) was as classy to me afterward as he could possibly be,” Scott said.

A former player described Kochel as a good football coach.

“He was respected by his players, but you either loved him or hated him,” the former player said. “If things were going good, he was a great guy. But he could be hard on you. He could push you very hard.”

While Kochel’s coaching career was going well, his marriage was falling apart. In July of 1984, he and Karen separated. Divorce records state that she “moved out to pursue another relationship,” leaving him to care for their children for about a year. The divorce was final in 1988.

Kochel had high expectations for the Cougars this season. The team won its first three games and was ranked No. 1 in The Times Valley poll, but then Kochel was arrested and the Cougars lost their next game.

The charges against the coach rocked the team--which includes Kochel’s son Jake, a 17-year-old junior defensive back, and another player who was said to be the boyfriend of the girl involved.

Kochel, who has pleaded not guilty, allegedly had consensual sex with the girl between Feb. 11, when she was still 15, and Sept. 25.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Saundra T. Brewer, who is prosecuting the case, alleges that Kochel had intercourse with the girl at his Ventura home. Brewer would not say whether Kochel initiated contact with the girl while she was taking his health-education class during the 1991-92 school year.

Brewer says that the girl’s parents contacted the police after finding letters allegedly written to their daughter by Kochel.

In addition to the 12 felony counts, the district attorney’s office added a “special allegation” charge--which would preclude the court from granting Kochel probation--because Kochel “was in a position of special trust” as a teacher, Brewer said.

If found guilty, Kochel will face a maximum of six years in state prison and permanent loss of his teaching credential.

An average of 25-30 teachers--among the state’s 250,000--lose their credentials each year in California because of criminal convictions on sex offenses with a minor, according to state statistics.

Even if sex with a minor is consensual, it’s illegal.

School districts can fire teachers for behavior that is not as serious as sexual misconduct. In recent years, the courts have upheld a school district’s right to discharge a teacher for pinching the buttocks or touching the thigh of a female student, according to the National Assn. of Secondary School Principals.

Experts say that sexual misconduct at school or in the workplace often goes unreported because victims are afraid or embarrassed or too apathetic to go to the police.

The women in this story who claim that Kochel made improper remarks to them in high school never made an issue of it, and even today, they don’t want to go public with their identity.

Kochel has been released on his own recognizance and is spending most of his time at home, tending to his lawn and doing chores.

Reached by telephone, he wouldn’t discuss the case. He said he was “hanging in there . . . the sun comes up every morning.” To make ends meet before the case is resolved, he said he probably would get another job.

Recently, Kochel was best man at his brother’s wedding and “held up real well,” Rex said. “My heart goes out to him. He is a good person.”

Willinsky agreed, up to a point.

“I liked Harvey personally,” the former assistant said. “I just didn’t like his extracurricular activities.”