At Mayfair, Winning Is Strictly Business

The football program at Lakewood Mayfair High operates with military precision, commanded by Coach Mike Fitch, preaching discipline like a drill sergeant and allocating duties as if the captain of a ship.

Fitch has guided the Monsoons into the Southern Section Division VI final Friday night at Cerritos College, squeezing every drop of talent from a veteran staff and a banged-up team that started the season 2-3, but hasn’t lost since being shut out, 28-0, on Oct. 5 by La Mirada, Friday’s opponent.

It’s the second championship-game appearance for Mayfair, which upset top-seeded La Mirada to win the Division IX title in 1998.

The Monsoon program began to flourish after Fitch arrived in 1994, bringing a no-nonsense style uniformly accepted at the 43-year-old school.

“[Fitch] took a team that had not won for decades and brought in that 9-to-5 type of attitude,” said Ed Lishok, who has coached alongside Fitch for 14 years. “He chased away a lot of people who weren’t willing to put in their dues.”

Fitch’s coaching style hasn’t always been accepted by everyone.

At Whittier High from 1987-93, Fitch rebuilt a program that had been dismal for 20 years, leading the Cardinals to two Whitmont League titles and the Southern Section Division VI final in 1993.

But halfway through the 1993 season, Fitch announced he would resign at the end of the year because of an ongoing conflict with boosters and administrators.

The boosters claimed he was insensitive to the needs of players and was too hard on them.

A new administration that placed little emphasis on athletics also began to withdraw support, said Lishok, who was Whittier’s athletic director at the time.

“The athletic program was being dismantled for academic reasons,” said Lishok, who came to Mayfair one year after Fitch. “There needs to be a good balance between athletics and academics, and athletics was way down on the totem pole. That was the principal’s philosophy and that’s why we’re over here [at Mayfair].”

Fitch’s expectations do not appear difficult to satisfy.

His players are expected to show up, work hard and perform as a unit, no matter who lines up next to them.

Every player must participate in fund-raising, submit progress reports once a week, get rid of accessories such as earrings and bandanas and wear clothes that fit.

“They’re not allowed to dress like hoodlums,” Fitch said. “The parents agree with me and I think that’s what they are looking for, structure for their kids.”

Fitch uses what he calls the “slam list” to keep his team in line. If a player fails to submit a progress report, for example, or has any failing grades, he has to spend 15 minutes after practice doing extra conditioning exercises.

“You’re going to eat dirt and do bear crawls down the field,” said Fitch. “We slam you until we get the grades up to Cs.”

Attendance at practices is mandatory. Players are allowed only one absence in the spring and two during the summer.

If they exceed that, they are cut from the team. Fitch said most of his players have never missed a practice at Mayfair. Those who miss during the season can expect a seat on the bench the following game.

“He doesn’t put up with any of that stuff,” said leading rusher Jimmy Manley, who was benched four weeks ago in the regular season finale against Bellflower, even though the Monsoons entered the game in a three-way tie for first in the Del Rio League.

Fitch already may be contemplating his next coaching position because his son, Grant, will be a freshman at La Habra High next fall and Fitch plans to see all his varsity football games.

“I love it at Mayfair,” Fitch said, “but my son is going to be a freshman next year.

“Getting down to the last couple of years, I’ve got to watch my kid play.”