Azusa, La Verne Lose Coaching Veterans

Southland football programs lost two prominent coaches to retirement at the end of this season.

One was expected, the other was a bit of a surprise.

Jim Milhon, 60, who coached at Azusa Pacific for the last 17 years, had announced his plans to retire a year ago. But Rex Huigens’ decision to step down at La Verne was unexpected.

Milhon finished his coaching career with an 82-68-4 record and will move into an administrative position in the Azusa Pacific athletic department. He had 10 winning seasons, including seven in succession to begin the 1980s.

Only three head coaches at four-year colleges in California have served their schools longer: John Zinda at Claremont-Mudd for 26 years, Ray Solari at Menlo for 23 years and Terry Donahue at UCLA for 19 years. Solari also retired this season--his last game a 32-17 loss to Milhon’s team.

“It’s kind of odd that two coaches are walking away at the same time,” Milhon said. “There have been so many unbelievable blessings to me and this football program since I’ve been here. They paid tribute to me (at the last home game), and a lot of former players came back to see me. But it wasn’t just me they wanted to see, it was Azusa Pacific as well. I’m just part of a great process that goes on here.”

Azusa Pacific is continuing to interview for Milhon’s successor and hopes to name one within the next two weeks.

Huigens, 46, has been the head coach at La Verne for only four years, but he surprised everyone by deciding to step down after leading the Leopards to their most successful season. Actually, he turned in his letter of resignation before the season started and asked Jimmy Paschal, La Verne’s athletic director, to keep it a secret.

“If we had gone 3-6, I probably would have asked to rescind it,” Huigens said. “I wouldn’t want to leave like that, and I wouldn’t want to leave the program like that for the next person.”

La Verne was 9-0 and won the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title before losing in the first round of the Division II playoffs. The American Football Assn. named Huigens coach of the year for Region 5 of the non-Division I schools.

Huigens had a 30-6-1 overall record and won the last two SCIAC championships. He will continue as La Verne’s golf coach and an athletic administrator and will also continue to teach at the university.

“Part of the reason to step down is that the philosophy of the conference is changing, and we’re getting more and more full-time coaches,” he said. “I do so many things--I’m a full-time professor, I coach the golf team, I am an administrator in the athletics office--and I have a 12-year-old son I’d like to watch play. I don’t think I want to give up all those to be a full-time coach.

“I like coaching, and I’ve been coaching at La Verne for 25 years--21 as a recruiter--so it’s not like I’ve only been here the last four years. The kind of season we had made it easier. I didn’t want to hang on and stay too long. Maybe I am leaving too soon, but I’m leaving the door open. I just think it is best for La Verne to get a full-time coach, and best for me to step away while the program is in good shape.”

Huigens will be replaced by his assistant of four years, Don Morel.

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The Azusa Pacific women’s volleyball team looked as if it would cruise into the quarterfinals of the NAIA national tournament in Chattanooga, Tenn., last week, but things turned sour in a hurry.

The 10th-seeded Cougars won their first three matches of pool play in convincing fashion. They won nine of 10 games in those matches, including a sweep of second-ranked St. Francis of Joliet, Ill.

Those victories, however, did not assure Azusa Pacific of a trip to the quarterfinals, and the Cougars needed to beat Moorhead State of Minnesota in their last pool-play match to guarantee a spot in the quarterfinals. Instead, Azusa Pacific lost in three games.

That loss left a three-way tie for the two spots in the quarterfinals. St. Francis, Moorhead State and Azusa Pacific were all 3-1 in pool play. By virtue of tiebreakers, St. Francis was awarded the first spot and Azusa Pacific had to play Moorhead State in a one-game playoff to 15 points.

That match was played 45 minutes after the Cougars had lost to Moorhead State, and Azusa Pacific lost again, 15-7.

“What a way to get bumped out,” Azusa Pacific Coach Lori Kildal said. “I feel fortunate that we walked out of there 3-1 instead of 0-4, like some teams. We had a great season. It’s just too bad the way it ended.”

What haunts her is that if Azusa Pacific had won one more game in the match against Moorhead State, it would have avoided the one-game playoff and won the spot outright based on points scored in pool-play matches.

College Division Notes

Claremont-Mudd won the SCIAC water polo championship along with the conference tournament and went on to finish fifth in the Western Water Polo Assn. tournament. . . . The Westmont men’s and women’s soccer teams advanced to the NAIA national tournament last week. The women’s team lost in the semifinals to Park College of Parkville, Mo., 2-1, in overtime and finished the season at 16-4-4. The men’s team did not advance beyond pool play and finished the season at 21-4. . . . On Nov. 11, Pacific Christian beat Biola in basketball for the first time, 106-101.