Marijon Ancich is still up to old tricks

Marijon Ancich barely moved, his expression never changing.

The white-haired football coach from Santa Fe Springs St. Paul High showed no emotion as his team converted on fourth down early in a recent game against Whittier Pioneer.

Ancich remained similarly stoic after quarterback Paul Lopez salvaged a broken play by passing for a touchdown.

But this riled him: Leading by two touchdowns, his team was penalized for a false start.

“What the hell is going on?” the suddenly animated coach bellowed as he hobbled along the sideline on his balky right knee.

It was vintage Ancich -- taking the good in stride, fuming over perceived lack of discipline -- exactly what those who know California’s winningest high school football coach have come to expect.

“The only time he gets mad,” said Don Ward, who has roamed the sideline as a photographer at St. Paul games for 37 years, “is if a guy makes a mental mistake.”

Ancich is three games into his third stint as coach at St. Paul, where he started in 1961. He has won 72.5% of his games overall and logged 281 of his state-record 346 victories in 35 years with the Swordsmen. Ancich leads Concord De La Salle’s Bob Ladouceur by one victory going into Friday’s home game against Lancaster Paraclete.

These days, though, milestone victories seem to stir the players more than the coach himself. After St. Paul defeated Los Angeles Garfield this season, players shouted “Three forty-five! Three forty-five!”

Ancich just went about his business. He says he returned to St. Paul to win a different numbers game: The school has only 625 students, less than half than in its heyday in the 1980s. The number of boys is 290; in 1973, 273 came out for spring football.

The decline prompted an aggressive marketing campaign intended to help enrollment reach 1,000 within five years, with Ancich a central figure in the movement.

“He’s the winningest coach in California,” Principal Lori Barr said. “That itself brings a level of interest that no other school can bring.”

Defensive tackle Mark Cabral said he got goose bumps when he heard the legendary coach was coming back for his senior year. Lopez, the senior quarterback, said he was thrilled he could play for the same man who coached his father in the 1970s, and even more pleased to learn that Ancich had incorporated more passing in his offense over the years.

“Back then it was six yards and a cloud of dust,” Lopez said, referring to his father’s playing days. “Just shut up and run the ball -- power, power, power. You know we’re going to run; try and stop it.”

Ancich still calls the Swordsmen’s offensive plays, but he would more readily divulge his playbook than his age.

“Let’s just put it this way: I’m leaning on the number seven,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m going to get near that 70.”

If Ancich was 22 when he graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1959, then that would put him in the neighborhood of 72. Barr said she knows Ancich’s age but won’t tell. Anton Felando, a longtime friend, joked that a trip to the coach’s native Croatia might be required to determine his actual age.

Ancich’s wife, Jacquie, shoots a how-dare-you-ask look when pressed. “You won’t get that answer out of me,” she said. “He’ll get a divorce.”

Those who have been part of Ancich’s three tours at St. Paul -- he also coached the Swordsmen from 1961 to 1981 and from 1993 to 2005 -- say, however old he is, the coach is as active as ever. He assembles detailed practice plans, runs “chalk talk” sessions with players and returns home around 11 p.m. to complete his second or third crossword puzzle of the day.

His words also still hold gravity.

“He can make a guy like me that’s 5-6 feel like I’m 6-5,” said running backs coach Lou Cabral, who was a third-string tailback at St. Paul in the early 1980s. “When we look at the film, we don’t know how we did it, but we did it because he said we could do it. Unbelievable.”

Cabral said Ancich’s ability to instill confidence in his players extends beyond the high school football field.

“That goes on to your college and your workplace,” Cabral said. “You believe it here, you’re going to believe it after you leave here.”

Paul Lopez Sr. said Ancich’s presence was comparable to that of the college coach he played for -- Alabama’s Paul “Bear” Bryant.

“That was one of the reasons I went back there,” Lopez said, “because I figured I played for a legend in California, so I might as well try to play for a legend in college.”

Longtime observers say Ancich hasn’t changed much, but he says he has made some adjustments. He has had to. The days of “yes, sir” and “no, sir” are mostly gone and teachers and coaches compete with iPods and Blackberrys for students’ attention.

“The climate has changed and it’s a little harder to get things done,” Ancich said. “It isn’t where you just coach. You have to be a psychologist, a referee and about everything now.”

Perhaps that’s why some of St. Paul football’s long-standing traditions seem more comforting than ever. Players still gather in the school gymnasium for pregame steak dinners wearing navy blue blazers, gray slacks, light blue dress shirts and dark blue ties. Talking is not allowed.

“You’re basically getting yourself mentally ready for the game,” Paul Lopez Sr. said.

Ancich’s methods have generated more than victories: By his own count, his St. Paul programs have produced more than 200 four-year college players and 49 high school and college head coaches. Ancich rarely coaches in a game in which there isn’t at least one coach on the opposing sideline with ties to him.

“It makes it comfortable because I know what they’re all doing,” he joked.

The first time Ancich left St. Paul, after the 1981 season, it was to try college football as offensive coordinator for Northern Arizona. But he didn’t like recruiting or dorm checks or monitoring whether the players were in class, triggering a quick return to the high school level.

Ancich’s second stint at St. Paul ended in 2005, those close to him say, because of differences with a since-departed administration. But Ancich felt so uneasy about the way he left things that Barr said she wasn’t even finished asking the coach back before he agreed to return during a breakfast meeting last December.

“He built this school and built this program and he didn’t go out on his own accord,” said Barr, who is in her second year as principal. “He deserves to do that.”

How long might that take? Ancich said he wants to restore the Swordsmen to the highest division of play in the Southern Section, a level they haven’t competed at since 2001.

St. Paul is playing this season in the section’s Western Division, a couple of notches down from the top level. So the climb back could take several years.

But the notion that Ancich would stick with it that long comes as no surprise to those who know him best.

“I’m just assuming,” Jacquie Ancich said, “he’s going to drop dead on the field.”

--

ben.bolch@latimes.com

--

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Leading man

Marijon Ancich has a record of 346-129-10 as a high school football coach, putting him one victory ahead of Concord De La Salle’s Bob Ladouceur for the most victories in California history:

346: Marijon Ancich, St. Paul, 1961-81, 1993-2005, 2009-present; Tustin, 1984-92

345: Bob Ladouceur, Concord De La Salle, 1979-present

338: Herb Meyer, Oceanside, 1959-75; Oceanside El Camino, 1976-2003

292: Dick Bruich, Fontana, 1977-98, 2000-08

290: Leo Robinson, Woodlake, 1962-2002

289: Gene Vollnogle, Wilmington Banning, 1957-62; Carson, 1963-90

279: Gary Campbell, Banning, 1969; Norco, 1970-2003

273: John Barnes, Magnolia, 1978; Los Alamitos, 1979-present

270: John Monger, Don Lugo, 1972-86; Chino, 1987-2005

269: Benny Pierce, Saratoga, 1961-94

269: Steve Grady, Loyola, 1976-2004

Source: CalhiSports.com

Most high school football coaching victories, nation. Ancich ranks 26th, 10th among active coaches:

568: John McKissick, Summerville (S.C.), 1952-present

471: John T. Curtis Jr., River Ridge (La.) Curtis Christian, 1969-present

429: Larry Campbell, Lincolnton (Ga.) Lincoln County, 1972-present

415: G.A. Moore Jr., Bryson (Texas), 1962; Pilot Point (Texas), 1963-70, 1977-85, 2002-04; Celina (Texas), 1972-76, 1988-2001; Sherman (Texas), 1986-87; Aubrey (Texas), 2009-present

413: George Curry, Lehman (Pa.) Lake-Lehman, 1967-70; Berwick (Pa.), 1971-2005; Plymouth (Pa.) Wyoming Valley West, 2006-08

405: Pete Adkins, Centralia (Mo.), 1951-57; Jefferson City (Mo.), 1958-94

402: Mike Smith, Hampton (Va.), 1971-present

396: Gordon Wood, Rule (Texas), 1940-41; Roscoe (Texas), 1945-46; Seminole (Texas), 1947-49; Winters (Texas), 1950; Stamford (Texas), 1951-57; Victoria (Texas) Memorial, 1958-59; Brownwood (Texas), 1960-85

384: Al Fracassa, Royal Oak (Mich.) Shrine, 1960-68; Bloomfield Hills (Mich.) Brother Rice, 1969-present

383: Willie Varner, Woodruff (S.C.), 1954-96

Source: National high school sports record book

--

Ancich year by year:

AT ST. PAUL

1961: 9-2

1962: 4-5

1963: 6-2-1

1964: 6-3

1965: 7-1-1

1966: 7-2

1967: 6-5

1968: *11-0-2

1969: 8-2

1970: 8-2

1971: 7-2-1

1972: *13-0

1973: 11-1

1974: **8-1-1

1975: 13-1

1976: 10-2

1977: 11-2

1978: 9-1

1979: 8-3

1980: 11-1

1981: *14-0

1993: 7-4

1994: 7-3

1995: 4-6

1996: 6-5

1997: 6-4

1998: **12-2

1999 : 9-3

2000: 7-5

2001: 4-5-1

2002: 7-4-1

2003: 10-3

2004: 8-4

2005: 5-5

2009: 2-1

Total: 281-92-8

*Won a Southern Section title

**Later forfeited one victory

AT TUSTIN

1984: 6-4

1985: 4-6

1986: 9-3

1987: 7-4-1

1988: 3-6-1

1989: 7-5

1990: 13-1

1991: 12-2

1992: 4-6

Total: 65-37-2