Hovorka Quits Cypress Football After 2 Seasons

Ted Hovorka resigned last week as Cypress football coach after a controversial two-year tenure.

“He has resigned,” was all Athletic Director Rob Walker said he was allowed to say Tuesday when he made the announcement; Hovorka did not return phone calls.

Last season, Hovorka led the Centurions to their first playoff appearance since 1980. They finished 4-7 after a first-round loss in the Division V playoffs.

Cypress would have qualified for the playoffs in Hovorka’s first season as head coach in 1995 but was forced to forfeit two victories for using an ineligible player. The Centurions finished 1-9.

Hovorka got off to an inauspicious start at Cypress in the summer of 1995, when he was suspended two weeks for using a player in a spring practice who was not enrolled at the school. The player was in the English as a Second Language program at a nearby continuation school, where Hovorka taught and continues to teach.

Hovorka took over at Cypress for John Selbe, who had a 32-55-3 record in eight seasons. Hovorka looked to rebuild the program.

But before Cypress’ game against rival Western in the second week of the 1995 season, Western’s campus and football field were vandalized.

In Week 4, the Centurions played without six starters--two of whom were suspended for fighting in the previous week’s game.

Hovorka was 29 when he took over at Cypress. He grew up in Villa Park and was an All-Southern Section linebacker at Servite.

He continued his athletic career at the Air Force Academy, playing football and baseball until injuring his back during his junior year. He transferred to UCLA, where he graduated.

He was an assistant coach at Los Angeles Loyola from 1988-90 before returning to Servite, where he assisted Coach Larry Toner before accepting the Cypress job.