Classroom and Board for Lawson at Malibu

What’s up with Rich Lawson? A lot more these days than just the surf.

Lawson, one of the Valley’s most successful and popular football coaches over the past decade, on Friday announced his resignation after nine years as head coach at Chaminade High to become the first football coach at Malibu High.

Lawson, 41, who said he also has accepted a teaching position at Malibu, will kick off the school’s freshman-sophomore program next season and serve as head coach when the Sharks begin varsity competition in 1998.

“It’s a career move, another challenge,” said Lawson, who led Chaminade to a Southern Section final in his first season. “I kind of get to be a pioneer and start with a new group of kids. We’ll be competitive in a couple of years, hopefully.”

More than likely. Lawson, whose resume includes stints as an assistant at Glendale and Pierce colleges, and a brief tour of duty coaching in Finland, will bring to Malibu a history of success, having compiled a 71-36-1 record while leading Chaminade to a pair of Mission League championships.

He also will bring his surfboard.

Lawson, it would appear, has found the ideal career habitat at Malibu. An avid surfer, he hits the beach, by his estimation, between 13 and 16 days a month, often toting his surfboard to the shore for a predawn dip before embarking on a day of teaching and coaching.

At his new post, Lawson will be only a fly pattern from the waves. Malibu’s campus is near Zuma Beach.

“The job site’s pretty nice, I gotta admit,” Lawson said. “My main focus will be to start a football program. But, as I’m driving home after work and I glance over, if the conditions are favorable, I’ll jump out and do a little exercising.”

So too, perhaps, will some of his new players. It wouldn’t be a first.

Aside from his talent as an offensive coordinator, Lawson’s best coaching attribute, perhaps, is his ability to bridge the gap between player and coach while maintaining discipline and respect.

Twice during his tenure at Chaminade, Lawson took his team to Hawaii for preseason games. On both trips, the entourage found the time to catch some waves.

“Surfing requires a lot of balance and upper-body strength, and those things transfer over to football,” Lawson said. “Most surfers are very good athletes.”

Lawson and his family vacationed in Mexico a few years ago with the families of three Chaminade players. The coach wound up tutoring tailback Jason Giovannettone and tight end Gabe Crecion on the finer points of riding a swell.

“He sort of gave us a lesson and I actually got up a couple of times,” said Crecion, The Times’ lineman of the year last season who has signed with UCLA. “He’s a great guy. He’s old in a way, but he’s got a young spirit about him.”

Said Giovannettone: “He’s a great person and great with the players off the field. But on the field, he’ll get in your face and get intense.”

A teacher at Chaminade since 1982, Lawson said he is happy at the school but needed to consider his career.

Lawson retains the boyish looks he had as a defensive back for Notre Dame High in the 1970s. But suddenly, a husband and father of three, he is slipping into middle age.

“I’ve been blessed to have the opportunity [at Chaminade],” Lawson said. “But it’s time to make a move and be in a different place.”

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Giovannettone, offered a 75% baseball scholarship by Lewis Clark State in Lewiston, Ida., said he will forgo the offer and walk on at UCLA.

Giovannettone, a leadoff batter who hit .359 and had 36 stolen bases this season, will concentrate on baseball. Giovannettone said he was invited as a walk-on by UCLA Coach Gary Adams.

“I just thought it would be more of a challenge,” Giovannettone said. “I figured, if I’m going to play Division I, why not play at a top school?”

Giovannettone also has drawn interest from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, UC Santa Barbara and Loyola Marymount.

“I didn’t want to live in Idaho,” Giovannettone said. “Great baseball school. It’s just that the town had only 30,000 people. Too slow for me.”

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Top-seeded Kennedy, defending City Section baseball champion, will play El Camino Real at Birmingham High on Tuesday at 3 p.m. in a 4-A Division semifinal.

Chatsworth will play Poly at Pierce College at 3 in the other semifinal. The winners will play the City final Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.