Favata Forced to Resign as Woodbridge Coach

Sam Favata was forced to resign as baseball coach at Woodbridge High after school officials found he was paying assistant coaches through a checking account that was not affiliated with the school, Athletic Director Dave Cowen said Thursday.

Paying coaches from an outside account is an apparent violation of a Southern Section bylaw that says a coach shall not be reimbursed for coaching services from any source other than school funds without the approval of the school’s governing board.

“As soon as we found out about it, we reported it to [Southern Section Commissioner] Dean Crowley,” Cowen said. “We’ve been in contact with the [section] and they have advised us to do what we’ve done in terms of relieving the coach of his responsibility. We’ve found no evidence of any of the money being spent on things other than baseball-related items.”

Favata’s resignation probably will satisfy the Southern Section that the school has taken care of the matter, Crowley said.

Favata was an All-American second baseman on Cal State Fullerton’s 1979 national championship team. He was hit in the head by a pitch in a minor league game in 1981, and after undergoing an operation to remove several blood clots, spent the next year learning to walk and talk again.

Favata had a record of 21-28 at Woodbridge in two seasons. He is the school’s sixth baseball coach in the last 10 years. Cowen coached the team for its first five years.

In other moves, Woodbridge has hired Jean Michel to coach its boys’ and girls’ water polo teams. Michel played for UC Irvine from 1991-94. He takes over for Ed Carrera, who left after two seasons to continue his college education.

Fred Morgan has been hired to coach the Warriors’ wrestling team, taking over for Gary Almquist, who left to take a full-time teaching and wrestling position at Corona del Mar.