Saddleback Coach Cunerty Resigns

Bill Cunerty, acting on the advice of his doctor to slow down, resigned Thursday as the football coach at Saddleback College.

Cunerty, 51, will remain at the college as golf coach and a teacher. He was an assistant football coach at Saddleback under Ken Swearingen from 1980 to 1993, took a sabbatical in 1994, and returned as the head coach in 1995.

Cunerty had a 25-7 record, including winning a national title in 1996, when the Gauchos went 11-0.

Athletic Director Keith Calkins said the college plans to select a replacement as soon as possible.

“It was a really hard decision,” Cunerty said. “I keep asking, is this the right decision? We prayed about it for a long time and this is the right thing for my health and for the football program right now . . . The program means so much to me that it deserves someone who can give it 100% of their time.”

Cunerty’s health concerns started when he was diagnosed with cancer in the abdominal area in 1992 and had surgery. He also has diabetes and was recently found to have high blood pressure.

“It was a very hard decision,” his wife, Claudia, said. “It was very difficult.”

Cunerty will probably have surgery within the next month that is a preventive measure against his cancer. Cunerty said the situation isn’t life threatening.

“I just figured that maybe I was going a little too fast,” he said, “and this is probably the Lord’s way of telling me to slow down.”

Cunerty informed his staff Wednesday and told the players Thursday.

“This was totally his decision,” Calkins said, “and I believe he made the right decision for himself and his family. I was worried about him, but he wasn’t one to complain. In his time as head coach he was really fulfilling a dream and I think the community was better for it and so were the student athletes.”

Cunerty is considered one of the top offensive coaches in the nation on the community college level. Last season he declined an offer to become the wide receiver coach at USC, where he graduated in 1968.

He still plans to run his West Coast Passing School, which is for quarterbacks and receivers, again this summer. He started the school in 1983 with Jim Fassel, now the coach of the New York Giants.

“I can’t even imagine how blessed I’ve been to have coached football at Saddleback,” Cunerty said. “I think it’s the best job in America.”