They’re Jumping Ship at Van Nuys

Maybe a question mark should be added to the school motto, “Excellence for All.”

If the steady exodus of quality coaches in recent months didn’t raise questions about the state of the athletic department at Van Nuys High, the events of the last week--the controversial hiring of a volleyball coach that led directly to the resignation of another--certainly should.

Greg Wah, boys’ volleyball coach the last three years, resigned Monday in reaction to the rehiring of Dave Bessler as girls’ volleyball coach.

Wah said he was angry that the administration hired Bessler, who was the coach in 1996, when the girls’ volleyball team was banned for two years from the City Section playoffs for using an ineligible player. Bessler subsequently resigned under pressure, was rehired a year later and was fired in 1998. Now, he is back.

Russ Thompson, who was supposed to align the athletic department on a competitive track when he arrived as principal from Westchester three years ago, isn’t going to help, either. In June, he became principal at Leuzinger High in Lawndale.

“Everybody’s clearing out,” said Wah, who has since landed at Portola Middle School in Tarzana. “Anybody that’s any good is clearing out.”

Seven of 16 varsity coaching spots at Van Nuys have been vacated since the beginning of the 1998-99 school year.

Coach Kevin Kanemura, former boys’ basketball coach who left for Kennedy in June, feels fortunate to have survived five years at Van Nuys.

Kanemura said his main reason for leaving Van Nuys was to return to his alma mater--he was a Kennedy basketball assistant for six years--but he had some parting words.

“When I originally took the job [at Van Nuys], my dream was for it to be like the L.A. version of Stanford, where we will have great academics and gradually get better in athletics,” he said. “But that’s not allowed to happen.

“I don’t know if you can point a finger at one particular person, but in the five years I’ve been there, there hasn’t been a direction. Their attitude is to field teams and keep their nose clean. And they obviously can’t do that.”

The football, boys’ soccer and girls’ volleyball teams have committed rules violations in the last three years, at one point putting the entire athletic department on probation. Only girls’ volleyball remains on probation, until December.

Bessler, who led the girls’ team to three City titles in a four-year span earlier this decade, said he was the victim of a conspiracy involving three coaches and former principal Thompson.

“They hated my guts for some reason,” Bessler said. “They were enemies when they should have been my supporters. Maybe they were jealous. Maybe they thought I’d hogged up all the athletes for volleyball. All I’ve ever done is be a coach.”

Bessler, who has kept his position as a teacher at Van Nuys throughout the turmoil, saw an opportunity to return to coaching when Thompson left Van Nuys.

Assistant Principal Jack Molina, acting principal during the search for Thompson’s replacement, said he rehired Bessler because of his “dedication and talent.”

Molina said criticism from Wah and Kanemura is superfluous.

“About their concerns, I have no idea,” Molina said.

While at Van Nuys, Thompson often referred to a maritime analogy, telling staff members that, “We’re all supposed to be on this ship together.”

Said Kanemura: “It’s been sinking for a long time. It just hasn’t sunk yet.”