Some New Faces Among County Coaching Crowd

Dave Brown, Ted Hovorka, Steve Randall and Mark Rehling--the new kids among the ranks of Orange County high school football coaches--graduate from assistant to head positions this season.

Brown, who coached Capistrano Valley’s inside linebackers last season, takes over for Eric Patton, who left after eight years to become an assistant coach at Saddleback College.

Hovorka comes over from Servite to Cypress, where he replaces John Selbe as head coach. Hovorka, a graduate of Servite, was the Friars’ linebackers coach last season.

Randall has been an assistant coach at Whittier Christian the last 10 years; he was the defensive coordinator last season.

Rehling, a graduate of Marina, has been an assistant and lower-level coach for the Vikings since 1972. He takes over for Dave Thompson, who resigned at the end of last season.

These aren’t the county’s only coaches taking on new assignments this fall.

Tom Caffrey lost his job as coach and athletic director at Whittier Christian last spring because of budget cuts, but he’s resurfaced at Heritage Christian, where he’ll coach eight-man football for the first time in his 23-year career.

Myron Miller moves from Costa Mesa to Tustin, where he replaces Tim Ellis, who, after having the Trabuco Hills job for little more than a week last spring, will be an assistant coach at El Toro.

Bill Crow and Jerry Howell return to head positions after serving as assistants in recent years.

Crow, who was varsity coach at Mission Viejo before working on Jim Barnett’s staff at Trabuco Hills, is Barnett’s successor. Howell, who was a head coach at Foothill, has arrived at Costa Mesa by way of Azusa.

While some things change, some remain the same.

Dick Hill returns for his 28th year of coaching in the county. He is the county’s winningest coach with a record of 200-94-3; 212-95-3 if you count his first season at Downey in 1956. Hill begins his second year at Orange, having spent 18 seasons at Santa Ana Valley (1959-79) and eight at Santa Ana (1984-91).

Also returning are two head coaches who have spent the past couple of decades directing their programs.

Jerry Witte has compiled a 111-107-5 record in 22 seasons at Saddleback. He has guided the Roadrunners to four league titles, nine playoff appearances and the Central Conference championship in 1985.

Bill Craven enters his 20th season at Pacifica, where he is 143-63-5 with 10 league titles and 14 playoff appearances.