Happy Landing : Former CSUN Coach Bob Burt Winds Up on His Feet at Temescal Canyon High

One of Bob Burt’s favorite buildings at Temescal Canyon High sits on the outskirts of campus, on a patch of dirt teeming with what might be the biggest ants this side of the Amazon.

The portable structure, the locker room for the Temescal Canyon football team, was installed this summer and represents one of the early accomplishments of Burt’s first season as football coach at this five-year-old school surrounded by barren hills in rural Riverside County.

The building, small and nondescript, doesn’t look like much from the outside. But Burt makes a point of giving an interior tour to a visitor, showing off the new lockers like an eager car salesman displaying the latest model on the lot.

The old locker room was cramped, so coaches, parents and players pitched in to construct new dressing quarters.

“This gives the kids a sense of place, of something that’s theirs,” Burt explained.

The same could be said for Burt, whose coaching career seemingly took a step backward in March when he resigned as coach at Cal State Northridge after nine seasons of battling problems associated with running a college program on a shoestring budget.

The budget at Temescal Canyon isn’t any bigger, and the pay, Burt said, is significantly lower, but Burt views his new job as a refreshing change of pace. At 54, he has embraced a new life in Lake Elsinore, where he is closer to several family members and has found peace of mind.

“In a lot of ways, it’s been a very cathartic move,” said Burt, who teaches health and physical education. “The difference is the positive atmosphere here as opposed to the constant negative attitude at Cal State Northridge.

“I felt like nobody at Cal State Northridge cared about the football program. Obviously there were a few boosters, some very great people and parents. And I think the players always cared, even the ones who were dissident at times.”

Man for the Job

Burt’s last two seasons at Northridge were filled with controversy. In 1993, the team boycotted a practice to protest the school’s lack of commitment to football.

Last season, 16 players skipped practice for reasons that included growing frustration over limited scholarship money.

Burt has encountered no such problems at Temescal Canyon. The school’s administration has supported him with a hand-picked staff of nine assistants, including six full-time teachers, and the players listen intently to his every word, showing the utmost respect to a man who coached on the college level for 20 years before showing up in their town.

“He has been the best coach that I’ve ever had in my six years of playing football,” said senior Matt August, one of Temescal Canyon’s co-captains and a straight-A student.

“He’s the quickest guy to get on your case for screwing up or not using your head, but also the quickest guy to say, ‘Nice job.’ ”

Viki Bolton, whose son, Chris, plays on the football team, said parents couldn’t be happier with Burt.

“He’s brought a great deal of excitement and respect to the game,” she said. “The boys are learning true discipline on the field. . . .

“Once you get to know him, he doesn’t have any kind of air about him, like ‘I’m a college coach.’ He’s very down to earth.”

Burt is one of two coaches in Northridge history with a winning record (49-46), but he hasn’t enjoyed a winning season since 1990. That could change in his first season at Temescal Canyon.

The Titans are 4-0 after Friday night’s 24-6 victory over Temecula Valley.

The defense has allowed nine points in four games.

Burt obviously has done a good job, but it should be pointed out that the cupboard wasn’t bare when he took over.

Temescal Canyon, after 0-10 and 3-7 seasons, improved to 6-4 last season and reached the Southern Section playoffs for the first time. Several starters returned from that team, including three-year quarterback Terry Hess.

The Temescal Canyon coaching job became vacant following the retirement of Houston Haynes, who was selected the area’s coach of the year last season by a local newspaper.

Although Burt’s contract at Northridge ran through Dec. 31, he began looking for another job because he didn’t think a fee referendum to provide funding for football would pass at Northridge. A friend told him about the Temescal Canyon job in February.

“It intrigued me,” Burt said. “It was the only high school job I looked at or applied for.”

A Dream of a Field

Burt has no regrets about leaving Northridge but he is bitter about being told, he claims, that the Matador football coach could not be signed to a multiyear contract.

Dave Baldwin, Burt’s replacement, signed a contract that runs through the 1996 season, Northridge Associate Athletic Director Debbie DeAngelis said.

“The administration flat lied to me,” Burt said.

Several factors made the Temescal Canyon job appealing to Burt. He would be closer to his brother Don, a highway patrolman who lives in Perris, as well as his parents, who live in Victorville, and he would have a chance to coach at a growing school that had little tradition.

Burt said Temescal Canyon’s enrollment of 1,500 is expected to climb to around 2,300 in the next few years.

Another attractive feature was the school’s home field, The Lake Elsinore Diamond, home of the Lake Elsinore Storm minor league baseball team.

“It’s probably the best high school facility in the state of California,” Burt said of the attractive stadium.

He was able to buy a home in the Canyon Lake section of Lake Elsinore, near a golf course and activities such as fishing and water skiing.

“One of these days I’m going to get the time to do some of those things,” Burt said.

Gamesmanship

These days, Burt is immersed in football. That was clearly evident a few weeks ago.

In preparation for Temescal Canyon’s Saturday night game against Rialto on Sept. 16, Burt and his staff arrive at school at 2 p.m.

The coaches and players eat a pregame meal together at 2:30, followed by a series of meetings, including a video session in the library.

Burt studies each play of a Rialto video with his players, detailing the opponent’s offensive and defensive tendencies.

At 4:30, the players suit up while Burt and his assistants have a meeting. Seated at a round table, Burt opens a manila folder drawn up to look like a football field, complete with hash marks.

The idea of the session, which Burt said he learned from Arizona Coach Dick Tomey, is to anticipate game situations and plot strategy and play-calling. After each play, Burt moves a helmet snap representing the ball up and down the folder.

“It’s better than Trivial Pursuit,” says assistant Russ Strange.

After the meeting, the coaches change into game clothes sporting the school’s colors of blue and gray.

At 5:15, Burt meets with his players in the school’s dance room where, on a padded mat, the team conducts a walk-through, going over blocking schemes and defensive stunts. Burt drills his players until their movements become second nature.

Before departing for their buses, the team gets a final message from Burt: “Never think the game is over. It is never over, period.”

Burt says he hasn’t had trouble getting his point across. When it comes right down to it, he says, there is not that much difference between coaching in college and high school.

“What a lot of people forget is when a kid comes out of high school and becomes a freshman in college, he’s basically only 12 weeks removed from high school,” Burt said.

“I’ve dealt with a lot of freshmen over the years, and competitors are competitors and athletes are athletes. The difference in high school is [the players] are shorter, smaller and are a couple of steps slower and not as refined in their skills athletically.

“But that’s OK. Football is football. You just have to adjust.”

A World of Difference

Adjusting to this team has been easy, Burt said.

“They’re a great group of kids,” he said. “They’re not as physically talented as a lot of other schools, but they’re great people. I have a ton of respect for them.”

After Temescal Canyon warms up on the manicured field at The Lake Elsinore Diamond, the Titans retreat to the locker room for final preparations.

Burt anxiously paces the floor, talking to his assistants and meeting with game officials.

He addresses the team briefly, finishing with a short pep talk before the players storm out of the room, yelling all the way to the field.

Although Temescal Canyon dominates Rialto in the first half, it doesn’t show on the scoreboard.

Three drives into Rialto territory bog down and Hess, the quarterback and kicker, misses two short field goals.

His troubles continue late in the second quarter when, on first and goal from just inside the 10, he mistakenly lines up over left guard and is called for illegal procedure when he realizes his gaffe and moves behind center.

On the sideline, Burt wears a pained expression.

But Hess redeems himself on the next play, completing a 15-yard touchdown pass to Ben Horton. Temescal Canyon takes a 7-0 lead with 53 seconds left in the half.

Burt appears agitated for much of the first half, but provides a calm presence in the locker room.

He jokes with Hess about “getting too friendly” with the left guard and uses a marker board to diagram some adjustments he hopes the team can use to its advantage in the second half.

The result is a smashing success. Temescal Canyon continues to stifle Rialto and the offense finally starts clicking. The Titans score 16 points in the third quarter on their way to a 23-0 victory.

Afterward, Burt is asked when the last time one of his teams started the season 2-0.

“Hell, I don’t remember,” he says. “It’s been a little while.

“We still made a ton of mistakes, but it feels great. I’m real happy for the kids and the community and the boosters. There has been a lot of work put into this in the last four months.”

Burt’s former team also is involved in a blowout the same night. Northridge loses, 52-0, to Idaho State, which has three times as many scholarships as CSUN.