Season Is a Test for Father-Coach at Simi Valley

The playoffs ended too soon in the most memorable season of Dave Murphy’s coaching career as his Simi Valley girls lost in the first round of the Division II-AA playoffs to Saugus, 57-38.

But for Murphy, he wouldn’t exchange this disappointing 13-14 season for anything.

The man with the 344-201 record over 21 seasons at Simi Valley had the opportunity to coach both his daughters, junior Joelle, a 5-foot-6 guard, and freshman Leah, a 5-5 point guard. Murphy also coaches his youngest daughter, sixth-grader Keely, who plays for a club team. And his wife, Jani, whom he married in 1984, was a player he coached in his first season at Simi Valley.

“I wouldn’t trade anything I’ve done for coaching my wife and my daughters,” Murphy said. “It’s the most special thing I’ve done in sports. It’s certainly not the easiest thing--it has probably been the most difficult. But our family is very close because of our special relationship with basketball.”

The Murphys don’t talk much basketball at home during the season, “unless there is something major,” said the coach. And in season, he avoids coaching his girls at home. But he admits there is a fine line between being a coach, and being a parent who wants to see the best for his children. He remembers last fall when he was driving home with Joelle and she began telling him what another girl was saying. “Unless it’s a major issue, I don’t want to hear about it,” said Murphy the coach. “You’re going to have to solve the interpersonal relationships with your teammates.”

But it’s difficult not being Murphy the dad.

“I try my hardest to keep being a father out of it,” Murphy said. “If [a daughter is] playing good, she’s playing, and if she isn’t, she isn’t. I’ve coached a long time, and in the course of a game I know what I’m looking for. Once in awhile I get on my daughters just like I get on anyone else. I try to treat them the same.

“But I think it’s true of any coach, that there’s a special relationship with their kids.”

Among the highlights for Simi Valley this season was the play of Teresa Cooper, who eclipsed her sister’s school career scoring record. But otherwise, the season has been difficult. Simi Valley expected to do better. Murphy needed 19 victories this season to reach 350, but fell six short.

“”We have not played up to our expectations,” he said.

But the dad wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Ouch: Dominic Evans, coach for Corona Centennial, liked what he saw in the fourth quarter of his team’s second-round Division II-AA game at Irvine Woodbridge. Centennial was on an 8-0 run and wearing down the Warriors.

Then everything fell apart. Senior forward Nicole Butchko, one of Centennial’s top rebounders, got her foot caught underneath her “and went down like a ton of bricks,” Evans said. “It delayed the game for about 15 minutes, and gave Woodbridge a chance to rest.”

Butchko, taken off the floor on a stretcher, will have further tests on Wednesday to determine the extent of damage to her ankle. “I talked to her mom [on Monday],” Evans said. “The doctor said it was either broken or a twisted bone, and I’m going, ‘Wow, a twisted bone?’ It wasn’t pretty at all. She’s a tough kid, and she screamed something awful.

“It hurt us in two ways--we lost our third-best rebounder, and gave Woodbridge a chance to rest. We eventually got to 54-52, and missed a layup and two putbacks before Woodbridge pulled away [58-52].”

Any last-minute heroics for Centennial were thwarted as its three leading scorers, Michelle Strawberry, Jenna Sybesma and Erica Dotson, who collectively averaged 42 points, fouled out.

“So we were trying to come back without our top three scorers and top three rebounders against a line that went 6-2, 6-2, 6-0,” Evans said. “We’ve had some miracle finishes before, but that was pretty hard.”