Hadley Resigns at Loara

Larry Hadley, who coached Loara to a Southern Section Division III wrestling title in 1999 and a second-place finish in 2000, has resigned his position.

Hadley said he resigned last Thursday and that his decision was based on unspecified personal and financial reasons.

“It was a very tough decision to make,” Hadley said. “It’s hard to build a program and then have to walk away. But I had no other choice.”

Since Hadley took over the position five years ago, Loara, in addition to the division title, had won two Southern Section Dual Meet tiles, three Empire League titles and produced a state champion in Orlando Galvan (103 pounds).

Hadley, who is a full-time teacher at the school, said there has not been a replacement named, but he will continue his coaching duties until the end of the school year.

Dennis McCuistion has been hired as baseball coach at Orange High, Athletic Director Ed Howard said.

McCuistion, Magnolia’s head coach last season, replaces Chris Esperanza, who resigned to pursue a master’s degree. Esperanza was 40-61 in four seasons at Orange.

McCuistion was an assistant football and baseball coach at Orange from 1995-2000. He was 2-20-1 at Magnolia last season.

The Southern Section revised its baseball playoff pairings, and Bolsa Grande, the third-place team from the Garden Grove League, will play at top-seeded La Puente Bishop Amat Friday in the first round of the Division IV playoffs.

David Olson, former head football coach at Los Amigos High, has been named defensive coordinator at Capistrano Valley.

Olson spent 11 years at Los Amigos, seven as the Lobos’ defensive coordinator and the last two as head coach. He was replaced after a 5-5-1 season by former coach Roger Takahashi.

Olson, 35, said he had spoken to a few other schools about assistant jobs, but he felt comfortable at Capistrano Valley with the Cougars’ head coach, Jeff Veeder, whose previous head coaching job was at La Quinta.