Capistrano Valley Hires Williams as Football Coach

Palmdale High Coach Jeff Williams, whose teams won Golden League titles in 1996 and ‘97, was named Friday to replace Dave Brown as football coach at Capistrano Valley.

Williams, 39, was head coach at Palmdale for nine years after serving as a graduate assistant at Purdue, his alma mater.

Capistrano Valley, which won the Southern Section Central Division championship in 1980 and the Division II title in 1990, was the South Coast League co-champion in 1996. But the Cougars were 2-6-2 in 1997 and 3-7 last season and did not win a league game either year.

“I think this is a great opportunity to step up a level to a school with a great football tradition,” Williams said. “And I think we have the athletes in place to make a run at the league title next year.”

That will be considerably easier since perennial power Mater Dei will be moving from the South Coast League to a newly formed all-Catholic league next season.

“I was born in Orange, my roots are here and I have a lot of family down here,” Williams said. “I know how competitive it is. It will be an exceptional challenge and I’m looking forward to it.”

Williams, who will begin teaching physical education at the school in the spring semester, says he will institute a rigorous off-season training program and spend a great deal of time evaluating players.

“We’re going to try to stay as balanced, with the run and the pass, as possible on offense and we’ll have an attacking style of defense,” Williams said.

Brown was 20-22-2 in four years at Capistrano Valley.