Sink Hears Call of the Wild and Resigns at Brea

Jeff Sink, who kept one of the nation’s most prolific prep sports dynasties running smoothly, resigned Thursday as girls’ basketball coach at Brea Olinda High.

In six seasons Sink, 49, led the Ladycats to six consecutive appearances in state regional playoff finals, five section championships and the last three Division II state titles, including last Friday’s 47-34 victory over Pleasanton Amador Valley. His record at Brea was 182-21 and his 18-year career mark, which includes 13 seasons at Fairbanks (Alaska) Lathrop, is 454-94.

Sink, who will continue to teach advanced placement history at Brea, said he wants to develop a private business in photography and that he intends to spend the summer--the first he has had free in nearly 20 years--in Africa pursuing his first love, taking pictures of animals in the wild.

“I just absolutely had a great time coaching the Ladycats,” Sink said. “It was a bit stressful at times, but we had a wonderful run. But this is the only way I can spend more time on wildlife and nature photography. I can continue to teach and see how my business goes. It may not work out, but I want to try it.”

Athletic Director Sharen Caperton promised a national search for a successor, much like the one in 1994 when Sink bested several strong candidates to become coach. Caperton said she expects to name a replacement by mid-May.

“He did a tremendous job with our program,” Caperton said. “He’s a teacher, first and foremost, much like a [John] Wooden, and he approached the team that way.”

Sink’s decision caught some of his peers in the county by surprise.

“I’m in shock,” San Clemente Coach Mary Mulligan said. “He’s one of the best coaches around.”

Caperton did not rule out Sink’s return as a coach in some other sport at Brea in a couple of years.

Although Sink would not say if it directly influenced his decision, he acknowledged that he had tired lately of mounting criticismof the way he handled the team, particularly after the Ladycats lost the Southern Section Division II-AA title game to Redondo Beach Redondo Union last month.

The victory over Amador Valley softened the blows only slightly.

“Being a coach at Brea is tough,” Mulligan said. “There is a lot of pressure. They have high expectations and that can get to somebody after a while.”

Sink came to the school from Alaska in 1993 to teach, but was hired as basketball coach a year later at a time when expectations were already high. The Ladycats had won five consecutive state titles when Sink replaced John Hattrup, a popular former Brea assistant who in his only year as coach guided the team to a 31-0 mark.

In Sink’s first season the Ladycats went 30-3 and won a section title, but their 65-game winning streak was stopped by Woodbridge during an early-season tournament. It took Sink three more years before the Ladycats won the state title in 1998.

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Sink’s Record at Brea Olinda

The year-by-year record of the Brea Olinda girls’ basketball team under Coach Jeff Sink, left, who resigned Thursday with a six-year record of 182-21:

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1994-95 30-3 Div. II-A section champion 1995-96 29-4 Div. II-A section champion 1996-97 29-4 Div. II-A section champion 1997-98 33-1 Div. II-AA section, Div. II state champion 1998-99 32-3 Div. II-AA section, Div. II state champion 1999-2000 29-6 Div. II state champion

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