Calabasas Hopes 3rd Coach Is the Charm : Southern Section tennis: Frontier League champion Coyotes are bad boys of Division IV.

Imagine the nightmare of coaching a team with seven John McEnroes. That might explain why the Calabasas High boys’ tennis team has had three head coaches this spring.

Ed Charles will lead the Coyotes into the Southern Section Division IV team final against Los Padres League champion Santa Ynez at Agoura High today at 3:15 p.m. But win or lose, he’s leaving the Coyotes, whom he describes as headstrong, difficult to manage and lacking commitment.

They also are talented. Despite losing their top two players, Calabasas won the Frontier League title and has a 16-4 record. Santa Ynez is 19-3.

“They’re good players,” said Charles, who took over the team with three weeks left in the regular season. “There are going to be college kids coming out of that school.”

But Charles, a former coach at Cal State Los Angeles, hasn’t enjoyed his brief stint with the Coyotes. He is quitting, in part, because he has seen too many ego clashes on the Calabasas courts.

“They are kids that challenge each other a lot and they keep each other on edge all the time,” Charles said. “And I don’t want to say anything about winning (today), because they’ll get cocky and go off on it.”

The turmoil at Calabasas started March 29, when fourth-year Coach Casey Allen, without warning, handed his resignation to Athletic Director Cindy Jones on the day of a key match against Burbank. The match was postponed and Jones took over the team until she could find a replacement.

Enter Charles. He said he inherited players who often ditched practices as well as matches, which sometimes forced junior-varsity players into varsity action.

“The only thing that I’ve done is have them show up,” Charles said. “They’re teen-agers. It’s hard to have any kind of discipline--especially coming in with three weeks left. There’s enough talent to (beat Santa Ynez). But it could go the other way, because sometimes they don’t feel like trying.”

Nonetheless, the Coyotes have reached the section final without top players Jason Weiss and Jason Cook. Weiss has missed the entire season because of an injured back, and Cook withdrew from school at midseason to start a home-study program.

Jeff Herz, the No. 3 singles player, was moved to No. 1. Assi Cohen, a senior who was academically ineligible until late in the season, and one-time reserve Alex Wan have filled in at Nos. 2 and 3.

“It’s been pretty difficult--we didn’t know what was going on sometimes,” said Wan, who transferred to Calabasas from Kansas. “We never had that much team spirit, not like my other teams. There’s been a lot of trash talk in practice.”

The Coyotes have at least one admirer. Jones, the athletic director is impressed with their resilience.

“I admire them so much for going through this season and still coming out on top,” Jones said. “I was almost not wanting to get another coach, even though I knew there would be someone more knowledgeable than me. I was afraid of putting them through another transition.”

A victory today could provide a smooth ending to the rough ride.