Anaheim No Pushover Despite Its Problems

It’s not a job description likely to draw a lot of applicants:

W anted: Coach for varsity boys’ basketball program. Must be able to deal with yearly attrition of players (including projected starters), lack of experience throughout the program and relative lack of talent. Experience in dealing with athletes from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds or willingness to learn.

But Anaheim High is not accepting applications. This position is filled--and has been for 10 years.

Conrad Byars hasn’t won a league title in nine years at Anaheim. His best team there was 13-12. His career record with the Colonists is 57-146. Last year, Anaheim was 6-17 and finished last in the Orange League.

A look at those numbers might make some wonder how he has kept the job.

A look at his teams on the court--and off--shows why he’s still there.

Anaheim will never be confused with Mater Dei in basketball. But the Colonists will never roll over and give a game to anybody, including the mighty Monarchs--as long as Byars is coaching.

“You better be ready to play when you play Anaheim,” said Al Walin, long-time coach of Magnolia, defending Orange League champion. “Regardless if they’re overmatched, Conrad has them playing hard and in control and they’re going to be competitive.”

Competitive. Scrappy. Disciplined.

Byars, 35, has heard those terms applied to his teams many times. Has just coaching competitive teams been enough to keep him at Anaheim for 10 seasons?

“I get tired of losing, there’s no doubt about that,” Byars said. “I feel I’m a sound coach, so it gets frustrating at times.

“But what I really enjoy here is the challenge of working with kids with such distinct backgrounds, kids who have to work to help their families, kids who might not have the advantages that most of the other kids in the county have. There are different types of rewards besides winning, and that’s one of the big ones.”

At Anaheim, Byars coaches players who, for the most part, have no organized basketball experience when they enter high school.

“I was talking about strong-side defense and weak-side defense at practice the other day, and I got a lot of blank looks,” Byars said. “Because our guys really don’t get into basketball until they get here, there’s a lot of terminology and finer points that I have to make sure I teach well.”

But once Byars makes his points, the Colonists respond. Although they haven’t been blessed with great talent--no Colonists have gone on to play college basketball or been named All-Southern Section in the last nine years--teams don’t like to play them. Especially in the Anaheim gym.

“If you go in that gym, which is kind of old and dark, as a team that’s supposed to win, you just want to do it and get out of there,” Walin said. “Conrad’s got an uphill battle there, but he stays with it and his teams give you fits.”

Entering his 10th season, Byars has had only three teams that remained the same from summer league to the regular season. Attrition because of family situations, academics or other problems is common at Anaheim, and Byars says it’s no secret it has hurt the program.

But there are many things that Byars can point to with pride, such as his 1990-91 team that went 13-12, including a victory against league champion Western at Western and a first-round Southern Section playoff victory. And also to the frequent visits of former players who have graduated and come back to let him know how they’re doing.

“What’s kept me here is that these kids sacrifice so much to play basketball,” Byars said. “We don’t back down on the commitment involved with being a part of our program, but they come out and play hard and show up for practice and games six days a week.

“Sometimes I just stand back and look at the kids and admire them for what they’re doing.”

The players probably look at the coach the same way.

1992-93 In Review

Standings

League Overall School W L W L Magnolia 9 1 18 7 Valencia 8 2 15 8 Western 6 4 16 9 Savanna 5 5 10 16 Brea-Olinda 1 9 7 19 Anaheim 1 9 6 17

Magnolia clinched the league title with a 51-45 victory over Western with one game left in the regular season. Center Brandon Hearvey scored 13 points and had nine rebounds in the victory. . . The Magnolia Western game was somewhat overshadowed by the antics of Magnolia’s Demetrius Maltie, who received a technical foul after kissing Western’s Josh Cook on the cheek early in the fourth quarter. . .Western’s Frankie Floyd scored 24 points in the Pioneers’ 39-37 double-overtime victory over Magnolia in the first round, Which left Western, Magnolia and Valencia tied for first after one round of league play. . . . Anaheim had the most frustrating league season, losing five games by nine points or less, including a 54-47 overtime loss to Savanna. . . Magnolia advanced to the second round of the Division II-A playoffs before losing to Hacienda Heights Wilson. The Sentinels defeated Katella in the first round. . . The Magnolia-Katella playoff game pitted the county’s two longest tenured coaches against each other: magnolia’s Al Walin, in his 19th year with the Sentinels, and Katella’s Tom Danley, in his 29th season at Katella. . . Western lost to South Torrance in the first and Savanna lost in the first round of the II-A playoffs.