Big Daddy Feels Big Hurt for His Players

Since he started coaching men’s volleyball at Pierce College in 1976, Ken Stanley has captured his share of glory, guiding the Brahmas to state titles in 1986, 1988 and 1992.

But Tuesday, Stanley hit a low.

In the championship match of the Southern California regional, the Brahmas won the first two games but blew a 12-8 lead in the third and a 13-11 advantage in the fourth, and lost to host Orange Coast in five games.

The defeat kept Pierce (16-4) from reaching the four-team state championships Friday and Saturday at Golden West.

“I don’t know when I’ve been more disappointed for the kids’ sake,” said Stanley, known as Big Daddy to his players. “I thought we played real, real, real well.”

The Brahmas had only four sophomores on the roster, so Stanley should have another strong unit next season, maybe even a state champion if the team’s trend holds.

After Pierce’s first state championship, there was a two-year gap before the second, and a four-year gap between the second and the third. Sticking to that pattern, the next title should come six years after the last one.

That would be 1998.

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Those who wish to restore football at Canyons argue that high school players from the Santa Clarita Valley need a junior college program closer to home.

They claim that the driving distance to, say, Valley or Pierce or Glendale discourages players and they quit football.

Yet, the same people making that argument assume that kids from the San Fernando Valley would rush to Canyons and play for the Cougars. Go figure.

In reality, Canyons would need players from outside the area to be competitive because the talent pool from the four local high schools--Canyon, Hart, Saugus and Valencia--would not be sufficiently strong.

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Does ESPN need another clever commentator?

Mike Gillespie, USC baseball coach and former Canyons coach, on his team’s 18-17 loss to Northridge on Tuesday in a game that featured nine home runs:

“It’s a small park with the wind blowing out,” Gillespie said.

The Grand Canyon is a small park with aluminum bats and the wind blowing out.

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Remember when baseball Coach Bill Kernen left Northridge to become a playwright in New York? Another Matador coach is about to make an unusual career move.

Lindsay Strothers, 40, the top assistant on the women’s basketball team the past two seasons, is leaving Northridge to become a massage therapist.

He took courses at Santa Monica’s California Healing Arts College and plans to start a business after getting his license.

“It’s something I’ve wanted to do since I was in college, because everyone always told me I had good hands,” Strothers said.

Strothers also is an accomplished singer who hopes to land a recording deal. He often performed the national anthem at Northridge games.

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Glendale, chasing its first Western State Conference baseball title since 1980, plays at Bakersfield today for sole possession of first place in the Southern Division.

The Vaqueros (25-12 overall) and Bakersfield (26-14) each have 14-7 conference records. Each team has four games after today.

Even if Glendale doesn’t win the divisional title, Denny Barrett should be WSC coach of the year. In his first season, Barrett has turned around a team that hadn’t finished above .500 since 1991.

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Mission’s Jose Sandoval, batting .506, could become the first WSC hitter to bat .500 since Andy Shaw of Canyons did so in 1993. Canyons’ Mike Bible batted .520 in 1987, the WSC all-time best.