Price Lands a Job, but It’s Temporary

It appears John Price has found a coaching job--for this weekend, anyway.

The coach of the recently eliminated Cal State Northridge men’s volleyball team will be in Denver for the next six days, coaching an upper-echelon boys’ club volleyball team in the Junior National Championships.

Price takes over for Alvin Lamarre, who left the Los Angeles Athletic Club volleyball team for undisclosed reasons.

Sam Lagana, club administrator and former Northridge assistant athletic director, asked Price earlier this week to fill the void left by Lamarre, who coaches at Crespi High.

“I’ve got a lot going on, but Sam asked me to help him out,” Price said.

The club team won the 18-year-old division at last year’s nationwide championships, formerly known as the Junior Olympics, and is one of the favorites this year.

Several athletes from the region play for L.A. Athletic Club, including Trevor Julian of Harvard-Westlake, Nick Marbach and Andrew Russell of Hoover, Ryan Hill of Crespi, Joe Nargi of Taft and Larry Cole of Campbell Hall.

Price conducted his first practice with the team Wednesday and prompted optimism from Julian.

“We’ll be a completely different team,” said the USC-bound Julian, who thinks a reversal is possible from last weekend’s poor showing at the Southern California Volleyball Assn. tournament.

“People will be surprised. Before, we were like five fingers floating. Now we’re a fist.”