As Montclair Prep Coach, Paris Is Happy With His Investment

Decisions, decisions. Take the cash and play baseball. Take less cash and teach baseball. Take almost no cash and coach a baseball team.

Apparently, there is something about coaching a high school team, taking a group of players into competition, that can’t be bought. Because faced with three options, Kelly Paris took the least-lucrative one and he couldn’t be happier.

“Chasing the almighty dollar is overrated,” he said.

Paris, 37, is in his first season coaching at Montclair Prep. He has the Valley’s most-touted player in outfielder Darrell Dent and the team has played much-larger schools tough so far, posting a 4-3 record. But the hours are long and the school pays him only a small stipend as a walk-on coach.

What could he be doing instead? Playing for the Minnesota Twins, for starters. Paris, who played in parts of five seasons for four major league teams in the 1980s, was invited to become a replacement player. He mulled it over for a few minutes, then declined.

“The only pro was money; everything else was a con, no pun intended,” Paris said. “I couldn’t leave the Montclair Prep kids. It’s all about commitment. I am very happy with my decision.”

Coaching also takes billable hours away from his business, the Baseball Learning Center. Paris has offered instruction to youngsters for several years out of the Sunrise Little League complex in Woodland Hills, just down the street from Taft High, where he starred in the ‘70s.

Paris in the spring is awfully busy. After practice at Montclair Prep, he hustles over to Sunrise and gives lessons until 9 p.m. at two lighted batting cages. He also employs several instructors, including Valley College assistant Darryl Handelsman and UC Santa Barbara pitching coach Tim Montez.

“Kelly is an excellent instructor, not so much because he played major league baseball but because he genuinely likes kids and they like him,” said Mike Dow, a Sunrise official. “He has built his business through hard work and it has been a great boost to our program.”

The Baseball Learning Center also helps raise money for the league: A portion of the instruction fees is donated to Sunrise by Paris.

That shouldn’t be surprising. Paris has made it clear by his actions that making as much money as possible is not his top priority.

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Dent, rated the 20th-best high school prospect in the nation by Baseball America magazine, is under the constant scrutiny of scouts. Paris can relate. As a Taft senior in 1975, he was under similar pressure before being drafted in the second round by the St. Louis Cardinals.

“I had a terrible senior year because of the pressure,” Paris said. “They wouldn’t pitch to me and I was swinging at curveballs bouncing in front of the plate, trying to impress scouts.”

Paris batted only .245 as a senior after hitting .420 and leading Taft to the City Section final as a junior. In his sophomore year he played with Robin Yount, a Taft senior.

“I’m not trying to change Darrell’s mechanics, I’m just helping him to relax,” Paris said. “He has so much talent and this is such a big year for him. Right now, he’s stressing and I remind him to be himself.”

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After opening the season with six losses, Hart opened Foothill League play Friday with a 13-0 victory over Burbank. More good news could be on the way.

Bobby Graves, a sophomore left-hander who had a 2.03 earned-run average last season, is ahead of schedule while recovering from a cracked growth plate in his left elbow.

Originally told by doctors he would miss the season, Graves has permission to begin throwing April 5 and could play by mid-April.

“He is working real hard at weight training and running, and he will be out there the very second he can,” said Bill Graves, Bobby’s father. “But we have to be cautious. Whatever happens this year can’t jeopardize his junior or senior years.”

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Basketball season has ended, but it has only begun for Jason and Jarron Collins, the super-talented, 6-foot-9 sophomore twins from Harvard- Westlake.

They are good, as anyone can see.

The question they ask themselves is: “How good do we want to get?”

After leading the Wolverines to the Southern Section Division III-A final, the duo turn their attention to American Roundball Corp., where the emphasis changes ever so slightly from team accomplishments to individual development and exposure.

“I’ve got to hit the 15- to 18-foot jumper, work on my rebounding and ballhandling,” said Jarron Collins, who is toying with the idea of becoming a perimeter player. OK, we’ll say it--a very tall guard.

Meanwhile, Jason will be honing his play close to the basket, lifting weights, and striving to become an even greater force as a scorer, rebounder and shot-blocker.

They will play on two teams this spring. One is an ARC all-star high school team that includes many of the best players in the Southland and the other is the Harvard-Westlake team competing in the ARC local league. Their father, Paul, coaches both teams.

In early April, the all-star team, which also includes junior Eddie Miller of Chatsworth and sophomore David Redmond of Birmingham, will play in the Virginia Invitational in Hampton, Va., a tournament that brings together top talent from across the nation. ARC is the only team from the West Coast to enter.

During the summer, the Collins twins will attend either the Nike camp for the second year in a row or ABCD camp, another showcase for the nation’s best.

July brings the Slam n’ Jam tournament in Long Beach and the grand finale of summer: a tournament in Las Vegas that most Division I college coaches wouldn’t miss for their own weddings.

A full schedule, and one they will do in tandem. “Me and my brother make the decisions together,” Jarron said. “We pretty much agree on what we want to do.”

Improve. That’s what they want to do. All spring and all summer. More than 50 games in all.

How good do they want to get? Their actions make the answer obvious.