ORANGE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: PREP EXTRA : Mission Accomplished : Kunau Has Quickly Turned Orange Lutheran Into a Winner

Another practice on a dimly-lit field on the backside of Orange Lutheran High on a moonless fall night. About 30 players file onto the uneven, damp turf adjacent to the Costa Mesa Freeway for another three-hour practice after the customary two hours of study hall. Most have been on campus, like most days, since 7 a.m.

This is one of those schools where football is just one part of the scheme of life, where the development of character is more important than putting on hip pads and banging helmets. It’s a refreshing place where football players such as linebacker Aaron Kenney feel as if they are in “a very tight family with lots of discipline.” Academics and character come first.

That mission weighed heavily on Coach Jim Kunau three years ago when he was plucked from his history and economics classroom, given a clipboard and told to turn around a tired football program. Kunau announced he’d do it in three years.

It came a lot sooner.

Last season, the Lancers won an Olympic League title for the first time. At 7:30 tonight, fourth-ranked Orange Lutheran (7-2, 4-0) plays at top-ranked Cerritos Valley Christian (8-1, 4-0) in a Division X showdown. The winner goes home with another Olympic League crown.

Win or lose, Orange Lutheran appears to be heading in the right direction.

“This is my seventh year and there were some things I observed when I came here that I thought we could improve on significantly,” said Ken Ellwein, executive director of the school. “I think we have done that. We have created a culture that is much closer to the mission we have always wanted.”

The “mission” is a belief that life’s experiences are a bunch of lessons, that being the best you can be in this world is worth a try, that character counts.

“It’s what you do with those lessons, what have you learned from them, that leads to a better life,” defensive coordinator Dean Vieselmeyer said.

Football was viewed by Ellwein and others as a way to showcase that mission and build spirit among students and boosters at a school where tuition can run as high as $4,500 a year.

Ellwein said since the football team has been winning, enrollment is up to more than 500 students, crowds of 1,500 spectators are not uncommon at games and the team’s success has snowballed. The Lancer girls’ volleyball team is third-ranked in the Southern Section Division IV, the girls’ cross-country team is third-ranked in Division IV, and the boys’ cross-country team has had one of its better seasons.

Kunau had only one season as an assistant coach at Orange Lutheran before he lobbied for the head coaching job after the resignation of Tim Taube, now the school’s director of physical education. Several well-known coaches at nearby public schools were among dozens of candidates.

“Ellwein took a big chance on me,” Kunau said.

Ellwein, while admitting the hiring of Kunau was a gamble from a football standpoint, believed that Kunau fit right in with his goal of re-establishing the mission.

“He loves the kids,” Ellwein said. “So often in athletics you have a chance to be a big influence on kids, more so than you do just in the classroom. Jim is that kind of person. He’s an outstanding teacher. The coaching has just been a bonus for us.”

Kunau defers credit to his six assistant coaches, most of them walk-ons like Vieselmeyer, who is the dean of students at Concordia University.

But there is no mistaking Kunau’s stamp of approval. He has installed chalk talks and study halls, and worked with Vieselmeyer on a weight-lifting program. He moved practices under lights attached to three wooden poles on what once was the school’s game field.

“We have the kids out there after they have had study hall,” he said. “We want total concentration and this way, they have their homework out of the way and can just play football.”

He convinced administrators to move football games from Saturday afternoon to the evening. “Saturday afternoon is for watching UCLA or USC play,” Kunau said. The team plays its home games at Brea Olinda High.

Kunau threw his life into the program and learned what he could in a short period of time.

“He was flying off to Stanford for this seminar and to Nebraska one summer for that seminar,” said Vieselmeyer. “We had to tell him to slow down once in a while and take a breath.”

That effort has not been lost on veteran Valley Christian Coach Mike Wunderley.

“Orange Lutheran is going to be a solid program for a long time,” said Wunderley, who has won six Olympic League titles and one Southern Section championship (1986) in 17 years at Valley Christian.

“They are really doing some good things now. They have changed the philosophy of their athletic program to be football centered, and they are doing a good job of it.”

Tonight, the mission continues.