They’re Demanding, Intense and Can Be Controversial: These High School Coases Are : OLD SCHOOL

They don’t have regular meetings or membership dues and there is no age requirement. But there are certain guidelines football coaches follow to be members of the “Old School” fraternity.

They must be demanding, regimented, organized, old-fashioned, intense, and able to handle any controversy stirred by unhappy players, parents or meddling booster clubs.

They should also know their history, such as the names of the founding fathers: Vince Lombardi, Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler, Frank Kush and, more recently, Mike Ditka.

Jeff Veeder, Capistrano Valley High’s newest coach, doesn’t mind being labeled “old school,” even if he’s only 40. But he’s not sure he identifies anymore with the pioneers of his brand of coaching.

“I can go all the way back to Vince, but he was a little extreme,” Veeder said. “And those other guys were maniacal. I’m a motivator, but we coach positively. There’s never any demeaning of the kids. I think that stuff is passe.”

Some people would say old-school coaches and their philosophies are all passe. Does today’s athlete respond to authority the way he used to? Parents want their children to learn discipline, but to the extreme that some old-school coaches teach it? Has culture changed too much for the old-school coach to be effective?

“I think our way is probably counterculture by today’s standards,” Veeder said. “But I don’t think this culture is all that great, so what’s wrong with returning to the old ways?”

Some of the most successful coaches in the county are “old school”: Mission Viejo’s Bob Johnson, Servite’s Larry Toner, Mater Dei’s Bruce Rollinson and Esperanza’s Gary Meek. Some have mellowed and aren’t as rough around the edges. Others, such as Johnson and Toner, are admittedly as fiery as ever.

Occasionally, such fire can land a coach in hot water. Johnson’s old-school ways have recently drawn criticism from a few parents and players at Mission Viejo. But Johnson is strongly supported by the school’s administration and most of his players and their parents.

“Football is a harsh game, an emotional game,” said Wilson Hart, whose son, Billy, is Mission Viejo’s starting quarterback. “Coaches yell at kids, kids yell back. That’s part of the training. These coaches are trying to teach kids to perform under stress. There’s a similar theory employed in basic training in the Army.”

Not everyone embraces that theory. P.J. Afrasiabi, a three-year varsity player for Mission Viejo, was accustomed to the more subtle approach of former Diablo Coach Bill Denny, who died of a heart attack before the 1998 season.

Afrasiabi never adjusted to Johnson’s in-your-face style and left the program three weeks into this season--just days after he said Johnson grabbed and twisted his facemask during a game against Murrieta Valley.

“I fell on my butt and he said, ‘Get the bleep off the field,’ ” Afrasiabi said. “I’ve never felt so low, so humiliated in my life. If you’re there as a mentor, as a coach, you don’t treat people that way. It’s high school football, it’s not the army.”

Denny, Afrasiabi said, “was the most intense person I know, but he was also the most compassionate one.”

A Tough Call

Not every athlete or every parent wants compassion. Some want a heavy-handed disciplinarian who knows football, wins and will push players toward an opportunity to play at the next level. Dinah Paffrath, whose son, Scott, starts on the Diablos’ offensive line, likes Johnson’s methods.

“I see my son as having the best coaches he’s ever had,” she said. “I do see them as being tough, but Mission has never experienced that kind of coach before. My son is hoping to play college football and he’s learned more stuff from these guys than anyone else.”

Johnson’s style isn’t for everyone--six players, including two starters, left the program in the first four weeks of the season--but his success cannot be disputed. In 12 years at El Toro, Johnson won three Southern Section titles.

This year, Johnson’s first at Mission Viejo, began with four losses. But four victories in a row have given the Diablos sole possession of first place in the South Coast League.

Johnson, who confirmed that he will tug on a facemask to get a player’s attention, said he has never been out to win a popularity contest.

“We ask serious commitments of these kids,” Johnson said. “It’s not for everybody. I don’t care about being a 16- or 17-year-old kid’s friend. I want their respect. I don’t want to get into their private lives. I don’t want to know about their girlfriends. But I do like the kids to have fun.”

Bruce Belgen, a starting offensive lineman for Mission Viejo, said Johnson is the most demanding coach he has ever had.

“I wasn’t used to the new style, but you have to buy into the program,” he said. “I think the kids that quit don’t like football that much, or they don’t like the practices.”

Likewise, Capistrano Valley players had to adjust to long, grueling practices after Veeder was hired away from La Quinta to replace Dave Brown, who ran a less regimented program.

Veeder, a disciple of Santa Fe Springs St. Paul Coach Marijon Ancich, an old-school original, made several unconventional demands of his new players.

During “Hell Week,” Capistrano Valley players shaved their heads. On game days, they are required to wear identical polo shirts with slacks. Some five hours before kickoff, players meditate in the dark for 75 minutes so they can visualize their actions against that night’s opponent. Later, they eat dinner in silence. Before dressing for the game, they walk down the field, linked arm in arm.

“It all goes back to the feeling of warriors going to battle, focusing on your opponent,” Veeder said. “My whole philosophy is we’re going to come at you with one force, one mind, one identity.”

Capistrano Valley is 1-7 this season, but Veeder has won the confidence of most players.

“Being with the team the whole day, it really brings everyone closer and helps us focus,” said Jeff Dixon, the Cougars’ senior quarterback. “Once these guys understand what he’s trying to do, Coach Veeder is going to get Capo back to being one of the best football schools in the county.”

Veeder, The Times’ Orange County coach of the year last season after leading La Quinta to its first playoff berth in eight years, said his methods have been generally well-received.

“I’ve had a few calls from parents saying their kids came home looking like Nazis,” he said. “But once I explained to them why kids were shaving their heads, they were fine with it.”

High-Decibel Discipline

Toner, whose Servite teams have reached the section semifinals four of the past five years, has a unique way of making sure at least some parents understand exactly what their kids are going through. He runs his players’ mothers through a scrimmage before the season begins.

“We let them play their son’s position and we yell at them like we do their kids,” Toner said. “They learn that there is nothing personal about it. That way it’s easier for them to see their kid being yelled at.”

Occasionally, Toner said, he will do more than yell.

“I might do a lot of things--from upbraiding to grabbing a player--that might not be allowed at a public school,” he said.

“There is such a hang-up today in society about grabbing someone. You don’t want to do anything harmful, but you want to get his attention, especially if he is doing something dangerous, like throwing a block by leading with his head.”

But Toner said all Servite coaches are careful about crossing the line between discipline and abuse.

“You want your other coaches to act as a check and balance to what you are doing,” he said. “We constantly ask ourselves if we are doing things right, did we gauge the athlete’s personality properly?”

Rollinson, whose Mater Dei teams have won three of the past five Southern Section Division I titles, said the perception that coaches can be more aggressive in private schools isn’t accurate.

“I think it comes from an old-school thinking that there was a different set of rules for Catholic schools,” Rollinson said. “But we are bound by the same laws, educational and civil.”

And Rollinson said he strives to abide by those laws--plus a few of his own.

“If you try at all times to maintain the professionalism that comes with the responsibility of being a head coach, you will be safe,” he said. “There will be emotional moments and there will be anger. You just hope your experience will be the determining factor in those situations.”

But what about when you don’t have enough experience?

“When you were younger, you cringe at how you handled some situations in a sensitive area,” Rollinson said. “No matter what decade, kids have a lot of issues they have to deal with. You have to be cognizant of that.”

Rollinson said having children of his own has made him more aware and more understanding.

“If [a player] gets an earful from you for doing something wrong, you have to go back and make sure you finish their day with a pat on the back,” he said. “You have to be willing to admit you were wrong and may have overreacted.”

When Meek looks back on the early days of his 27-year coaching career at Esperanza, he sees a volatile man.

“If I did those things today, I’d be fired,” Meek said. “But you understand the game better now. You mellow and learn how to motivate kids better.”

The Team Comes First

Meek is still counted among the county’s most intense coaches, and a few of his rules are about as old school as they come. Players wear game-day shirts and eat together before games, and in uniform they wear black cleats with white socks pulled up to the middle of their calves. They don’t have towels hanging off their uniforms and they don’t celebrate touchdowns or big defensive plays.

“Team success comes before individual success,” Meek said.

But Meek, who had heart surgery in 1993, doesn’t go overboard to get his point across.

“We don’t tolerate disrespect and we don’t belittle kids or attack their character,” Meek said. “There’s ways to criticize without making a kid feel that way. Sometimes it’s our fault anyway. As coaches we have to ask, ‘Did we allow the kid to make the play given our instruction? Is the scheme too complicated?’ Sometimes, we over-coach them.”

Ryan Sausedo, a junior quarterback for Esperanza, has been in and out of Meek’s starting lineup this season, but he respects his coach’s approach.

“I think old school is very effective,” Sausedo said. “ . . . He wants to make you better. He puts the best man forward.”