Hazelton Resigns Burbank Position : Football: Coach plans to head for Northern California in pursuit of job after compiling 3-17 record on the field and being beset by controversy off it with Bulldogs.

Burbank High football Coach John Hazelton announced his resignation Tuesday, ending a two-year tenure marked by disappointment on the field and controversy off it.

In a meeting with school administrators, Hazelton said he will continue coaching in Northern California, where he said he has received more than one offer.

Burbank finished 1-9 this season, the lone victory by forfeit over Crescenta Valley, which beat the Bulldogs, 21-7. With the Crescenta Valley game counted as a loss on the field, Hazelton’s overall record at Burbank was 3-17.

“My plan for my immediate future doesn’t involve Southern California,” Hazelton said. “It involves Northern California. And that’s been in my mind for quite a long time. There comes at time, if you have a plan, that you have to act on it.

“I’m very upbeat and excited. I’m a forward-thinking person.”

A dark cloud has followed Hazelton since the middle of the season, when the Burbank Unified School District and Southern Section decided to jointly investigate him after he was accused by Burroughs Coach Robert dos Remedios of using ineligible players.

But Hazelton said the investigation was not a factor in his decision to resign. Nor was Burbank’s failure on the field, he said.

“I’m satisfied only to the end that I worked absolutely as hard as I could under the circumstances to make those kids as good as I could,” he said. “In that degree, you have to be satisfied.

“I think I’ve had a losing record in only three of my 25 years of coaching. But I was greatly inspired by a lot of my kids.”

Burbank Athletic Director Frank Kallem said he is sorry to see Hazelton go and added that he is confident the investigation, when completed, will clear his former coach.

“He’s good-hearted, sincere and dedicated,” Kallem said. “He’s a good friend and I hate for him to have all this difficulty with the [Southern Section]. I think he’ll be exonerated in the end.”