Summer Breeze a Wind of Change

Courts will soon be adjourned for the summer, ending an unprecedented season of change for girls’ basketball teams in the region.

The Bell-Jeff Summer Hoop Finale, which continues through Saturday, marks the final week of the summer season before the Southern Section’s three-week dead period.

Of the 15 teams participating at Bell-Jeff, six are breaking in new coaches.

“It’s been a really bizarre kind of year,” Coach John D’Agostin of Westlake High said of the carousel that began spinning in the spring.

At least 21 coaches left their jobs since the end of last season.

Dave Munroe of Hart, John Harbour of Camarillo and Errol Garnett of Glendale, rescinded their resignations and are back coaching their teams.

The rest scattered, many starting chain reactions.

When Brian Taylor resigned at Harvard-Westlake, Melissa Hearlihy of Alemany stepped in.

Hearlihy was replaced at Alemany by Brandi Murrish, an assistant at Cal Lutheran.

Keith Case recently resigned at Notre Dame to replace Murrish.

In recent years, much of the off-season attention was focused on players who changed schools about as often as they did socks.

Has the free-agent mentality spread to coaches?

“I think a lot of people feel that way,” said D’Agostin, who resurrected the program at Burbank but accepted the job at Westlake when Don McMaster left to start a program at Oaks Christian, which opens in the fall.

Many coaches argue they were offered better opportunities, either with lighter class schedules, better pay or a chance to coach at a higher level.

It’s hard to blame them. Who wouldn’t want to improve their situation?

But some have found it to be a fine line.

“So often, you talk to players about loyalty and commitment,” said Bryan Camacho of Bell-Jeff, who stepped in at his alma mater when Jess Rodriguez retired. “But they look around and coaches are flying this year.”

Of course, that hasn’t been the case at all schools.

Buena and Newbury Park, which figure to be the top two teams in the region next season, have had the same coaches since the 1970s.

Jonathan Depeyer, who replaced D’Agostin at Burbank, doesn’t think the connection between coaching stability and success is a coincidence.

“It’s hard to be a consistent program if you don’t have consistent leadership,” he said. “A lot of teams have that advantage because their coaches have been around so long and have built a system and tradition. It’s my goal that we can do that at Burbank.”

At Thousand Oaks, it’s more a matter of recapturing the tradition.

The Lancers won more than 300 games and eight Marmonte League titles in 16 seasons under Chuck Brown, who retired in 1998.

When Tom Strasburger resigned after two disappointing seasons, the school asked Brown to return.

“I think I just needed a couple of years off,” said Brown, who sat in the bleachers at Bell-Jeff this week, wearing a ring commemorating Thousand Oaks’ 4-A Division championships in 1990-91 and 1991-92.

Nowhere has stability been more of an issue than at Crescenta Valley.

Traditionally one of the region’s top programs, the Falcons have their fourth coach in five seasons--Bruce Breeden. As usual, there are high expectations.

“The program, the tradition, it can be a tough place to coach,” said Breeden, who attended Hoover and lives in the La Crescenta area. “These girls have been through a lot. But when I took this job, I wanted the girls and the administration to know that I’m here for the long haul. I’m where I want to be.”

Few coaches enter programs with the idea they will pack up in a year or two, but there are exceptions.

When Kevin Wiser took over the program at Louisville last season, he told school officials he would leave after the 2000-2001 season, when his daughter, All-Mission League guard Megan Wiser, graduated.

For the rest, it’s anyone’s guess when the reshuffling will begin again.

“We’ll see how things go here,” Burbank’s Depeyer said. “Talk to me in about two years.”

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SEASON OF CHANGE

Coaching changes in region girls’ basketball:

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School Former Coach New Coach Alemany Melissa Hearlihy Brandi Murrish Bell-Jeff Jess Rodriguez Bryan Camacho Buckley Byrd Milic Vacant Burbank John D’Agostin Jonathan Depeyer Crescenta Valley Allen Freemon Bruce Breeden Harvard-Westlake Brian Taylor Melissa Hearlihy Kennedy Kurt Keller Vacant Littlerock Tom Hegre Sherri Cvijanovich Notre Dame Keith Case Vacant Oaks Christian First-year program Don McMaster Providence Andrew Bencz Vacant Reseda Mike Wagner Marcy Dowgiallo Rio Mesa Paul Needham Vacant Santa Clara Sherri Cvijanovich Anna Vasquez Taft Larry Dill Mark Drucker Thousand Oaks Tom Strasburger Chuck Brown Ventura Glenn Gray II Ann Larson Westlake Don McMaster John D’Agostin

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