Carson Still Seeking Return to Tradition

The rumblings in the community subsided a bit this summer, a testament to decreased expectations.

After dominating the local high school football scene for 20 years, Carson has fallen on hard times. It has had three coaches since Gene Vollnogle retired in 1990, and not one of them has been able to sustain the winning tradition.

The team’s latest leader, Mike Sakurai, is coming off a 2-8 record in his rookie campaign, the school’s worst showing since it opened in 1963. Carson missed the playoffs for the first time since 1970, and none of its players received a scholarship to a Division I college.

College recruiters have long had Carson at the top of their visitation list. During his 28 seasons, Vollnogle sent an average of five players a year to college, including 14 in 1988. Many of those players went on to play professionally, among them Wesley Walker with the New York Jets and Mike Wilson with the San Francisco 49ers.

Carson was so strong in the 1970s and ‘80s that it frequently had trouble filling its nonleague schedule. Losses were few and far between.

Sakurai, who had coached at nearby Gardena High for 15 years, quickly found out how much the community is used to winning. Last season, he said parents occasionally stopped by practice and walked onto the field. They asked why their sons weren’t getting more attention from college recruiters, and why they weren’t getting the ball more.

“People around here expect you to win every season and they expect a lot of the players to go on to college,” Sakurai said. “But putting on a Carson uniform doesn’t make a kid an instant winner. There’s a lot of work involved in being the best, and I think a lot of people around here have forgotten that.”

Vollnogle was 32 when he was hired to build the football program at Carson after it opened in 1963. His first three teams had a combined record of 5-17, but his fourth squad went 11-0 and won the City Section championship.

That was the first of a record eight section championships for Vollnogle, who retired in 1990 as the state’s winningest coach with a record of 235-66-1 (78%). His teams advanced to the section final 16 times and won 13 league titles.

Vollnogle turned over the most coveted coaching job in the Southland to Marty Blankenship, a former player and longtime assistant. In two seasons, Blankenship went 15-9-2, including a loss in the 1992 section final.

“I was told by our administration that if I didn’t win a City title by the end of my second year that I’d be let go,” Blankenship said. “I resigned before they could fire me.

“I never felt comfortable in the job, mostly because I didn’t feel I had the support of the administration. It was a nightmare.”

Blankenship was replaced by David Williams, a young assistant coach from Dorsey High. Williams went 10-4 in 1993, including a victory over Dorsey in the section championship game. But the Colts had to forfeit three games the next season for using an ineligible player and barely made the playoffs. They were eliminated in the semifinals and Williams stepped down shortly thereafter.

Blankenship and Williams discovered winning isn’t always enough at Carson. The margin of victory and the number of defeats are also closely watched.

“People are so used to winning at Carson, that whenever we’d lose a game people would ask what went wrong,” said Vollnogle, who has been an assistant coach at Los Alamitos High since he left Carson. “When we would go 12-1, I would always get questioned about the loss. You’re not going to win every game.”

By the time Sakurai was given the job last year, his team had already missed spring practice and several key players had defected to other area schools. The 2-8 record included losses to Narbonne, Washington and Crenshaw, schools Carson seldom had trouble with in the past.

Sakurai said he was second-guessed by players, parents and fans. His dream job had suddenly lost its luster.

“It’s not easy to take over a program that had a legendary coach for so many years,” Sakurai said. “Somebody has to make their own identity some day, and I hope it can be me.”

Sakurai hired a former Vollnogle assistant, Randy Morris, to work with the defense this season. The team had a productive spring and spent the summer in the weight room. Senior running back Patrick McCall is one of several players being actively recruited.

Vollnogle is keeping his fingers crossed.

“It’s been hard for me to see what’s happened over there,” he said. “I thought things would be the same when I left. It takes at least five years to get a program in full swing, so if Mike sticks with it, I think he’ll be successful. Winning is never easy.”