Surface to Air

The way Jeff Kearin sees it, he might as well be wearing a dunce cap -- or a top hat and coat tails.

The dunce cap, Kearin said, because he wanted to replace Steve Grady as football coach at Los Angeles Loyola. The formal wear because he’s the new ringleader of a pass-happy offense.

Grady coached Loyola for 29 years and led the Cubs to a 269-77-6 record, to the Southern Section semifinals or beyond 11 times and is synonymous with Los Angeles-area high school football. His success was grounded in a power running attack and physical defense.

Kearin, in his first season guiding Loyola, has installed a wide-open, high-flying offense that relies on passing, features multiple spread formations and often utilizes no-huddle play-calling.

“It’s all over the place, like a circus,” Kearin said. “It’s not what Loyola fans are used to seeing out there, that’s for sure. I must be the dumbest guy in the world just because of who I’m replacing. I’m absolutely scared to death.”

Kearin passed his first test last week with a 28-3 victory over Aurora (Colo.) Regis Jesuit, but that game was in Colorado and many fans didn’t get to see the new offense in action until a 28-13 intersectional victory over Venice on Friday night at Santa Monica College.

Loyola passed 26 times for 241 yards and two touchdowns against Regis Jesuit. Chad Peppars also rushed for 104 yards and a touchdown.

Friday against the Gondoliers (1-1), the Cubs (2-0) started slowly on offense and played conservatively as quarterback Henry Burge completed only four of 10 passes for 30 yards. But Burge completed his next three passes for 51 yards, including a nine-yard touchdown, as Loyola took a 14-13 halftime lead.

Burge finished 11 for 21 for 165 yards and two touchdowns, the second a 45-yard scoring play to Reynolds Holmes with 4 minutes 45 seconds to play. Loyola rushed 37 times for 135 yards. Peppars gained 99 yards and scored a touchdown in 18 carries.

Kenny Ashley led Venice with 162 yards rushing, but only seven in the second half. He scored on an 83-yard run the first time he touched the ball. But Ashley was knocked unconscious midway through the fourth quarter and did not return to the game.

The new scheme has created quite a buzz among the Loyola faithful.

“I think everyone is a little nervous,” said Drew Cassani, a linebacker on Loyola’s 1990 Division I championship team. “But when you’ve had a guy in place for 29 years, it’s not going to be a seamless transition. People will give him some time to get it going. If they aren’t winning in a couple of years, then we might need to rethink things.”

Kearin has experienced the pressures of Loyola fans’ expectations before. The 1978 graduate played quarterback for the Cubs and was an assistant coach under Grady from 1980 to ’90.

Kearin held assistant coaching jobs at USC and Nevada Las Vegas before becoming head coach at Cal State Northridge. While there, his offense helped quarterback Marcus Brady set NCAA Division I-AA career records with 1,680 passes and 1,039 completions. Brady averaged a national-best 363.2 yards passing a game his senior year.

Northridge cut football in 2001 and Kearin wound up at Brophy Prep in Phoenix. His offense helped the team improve from 4-6 in 2002 to 7-4 in his first season and then 11-2 last year.

Ed Hearn, the principal at Brophy, is a former Loyola assistant coach. As word of Kearin’s hiring at Loyola spread among Cub football followers, Hearn fielded calls from a number of them who were wondering what to expect.

“I told them it’s like the circus coming to town,” Hearn said. “It’s real exciting and entertaining. But I also told them that there’s going to be an adjustment period. By year two it should be in high gear.”

Many assumed one of Grady’s assistants was going to be promoted and that Loyola football would remain as it always had been. That the administration had gone outside the school to find its coach was surprising to some. That he was an offensive guru was even more surprising.

“I was a bit taken aback,” said George Paton, a former Loyola quarterback and now director of pro personnel for the Miami Dolphins. “Grady set the standard. He’s a legend. He has his beliefs and they worked. But you’ve got to respect Jeff for coming in there and doing things his own way.”

It helps that Grady is one of Kearin’s strongest supporters. The former coach still holds an administrative position on campus, but rather than lurking over Kearin’s shoulder, Grady mentors and guides only when asked.

“I’m sure he feels pressure to come in and be successful,” said Grady, whose first season in 1976 followed Loyola’s 14-0 Division 4-A championship season. “It’s tough to come in and establish your own identity, but I feel good about what he’s trying to do. He’s proven to be successful with it.”

Hiring Kearin was an easy decision, Loyola Athletic Director Chris O’Donnell said. “We weren’t looking for a Steve Grady clone,” O’Donnell said. “I don’t think style of offense is what Loyola football is about. Loyola football is about toughness, grittiness and discipline.”

Kearin said those attributes will remain, no matter what the offense looks like.

“Steve taught me the business of coaching as far as structure and discipline,” Kearin said. “I absolutely reach back to those things.”