Alumni Make This School Something Special

Before Jim Fassel became the New York Giants’ head coach, he worked here.

Steve Beuerlein studied here before he played at Notre Dame and in the NFL.

And even Mike Holmgren gave his input to this project long before he coached the Green Bay Packers to two Super Bowls.

Bill Cunerty’s West Coast Passing School returns to Saddleback College for four, 3 1/2-hour sessions this week. Here, quarterbacks, running backs and receivers will learn football techniques and tactics along with philosophies for the sport and life.

“We stress to the kids that this is not a football conditioning camp,” said Cunerty, who coached at Saddleback College for 17 years, three as the head coach. “We spend the first 45 minutes in a classroom, talking about not only about football, but academics and doing the right things.”

Plenty of top-notch players have rolled through Cunerty’s camp.

Buffalo quarterback Rob Johnson (USC, El Toro High) and his older brother Bret (UCLA, Michigan State, El Toro High) attended the camp. The alumni also includes receiver Scott Miller (Miami Dolphins, UCLA, Saddleback College, El Toro High), and former Raider quarterbacks Todd Marinovich (USC, Capistrano Valley, Mater Dei), and Pat Barnes (California, Trabuco Hills).

And there are plenty of other West Coast Passing School success stories.

One of Cunerty’s favorites is Justin Vedder, who played quarterback for him at Saddleback.

First Vedder helped Laguna Hills win a Southern Section Division VII championship in 1991 as a sophomore. Three seasons later, he was redshirting as a freshman at Boston University.

Then, he played at Saddleback for two years, leading the Gauchos to the national title in 1996 and helping him earn a scholarship to play in the Pac-10 at California. He recently signed with the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League, Cunerty said.

And Vedder is one of the many former clients who continue to give to the school.

“Justin gave me some neat things he learned at Cal,” Cunerty said. “That’s what is great, we all learn from each other.

“We have former players who come back to work on staff. Even Beuerlein came one year, and it wasn’t just to sign autographs. He was out there throwing with the kids and everything. They had fun with that.”

And in recent years, Cunerty said, they have opened the camp to younger players. Scott Lukash, Mater Dei’s starting quarterback last season, had attended the camp since he was 8, Cunerty said.

“Interest has grown in the school,” Cunerty said. “I think that’s a testament to the great staff we have. We’ve had kids come from as far as Alaska or New Jersey. But essentially, it’s an Orange County commuter camp.”

NO JEALOUSY HERE

Although Cunerty’s former collaborators will pop up on network television’s coverage of the NFL, he is perfectly content with his lower profile work on the other side of the microphone. Cunerty still works a high-school game of the week for the local cable stations.

“Sure, Fassel gets his picture in the New York Post,” Cunerty said laughing, “and people throw darts at it.”

VOLLEYBALL REPORT

Saddleback Volleyball Club of Irvine finished second in the girls 18s division at the Volleyball Festival in Sacramento last week, falling in the final to Sunwest of San Diego, 15-5, 16-17, 15-11.

Although Jennifer Carey (Newport Harbor High), a two-time All-Southern Section selection who will play at Hawaii next season, is Saddleback’s most high-profile player, Coach George Carey said his team got a big boost from Rochelle Currier (Capistrano Valley), who will play at Utah State.

Orange County Volleyball Club’s Nike team finished third in the division after suffering its share of bumps and bruises. Kellie Cramm, who will be a senior at Laguna Beach this fall, broke both wrists during warm-ups before the team’s semifinal match against Saddleback, which it lost.

Orange County Volleyball Club’s 17s team finished fifth and Saddleback’s 17s team finished 19th in the division, which had 272 entries. In the girls 16s division, Orange County’s top finish was third and Saddleback’s fourth.

OVERSEAS POLO

Servite boys’ water polo Coach Jim Sprague and his son, Todd, the girls’ water polo coach at Rosary, will lead a boys’ squad that will participate in a British-German-USA cultural exchange that began Thursday and will continue until July 14.

The team will play several games, spending the first week at Eton College in England before flying to Dusseldorf to spend another week.

Staff writer Paul McLeod contributed to this report.