Laguna’s Brobeck steps down

Laguna Beach High boys’ cross-country Coach Dave Brobeck, who has been the Breakers’ head man for 12 years, said he is stepping down to spend more time with his family.

Brobeck guided the Laguna boys to the CIF State Division IV championship this past fall. He has been a part of all three of the program’s state titles, running on the 1989 squad and also coaching the 2004 team.

“This decision of mine was a long time in the making,” Brobeck wrote in an e-mail. “It’s fantastic to go out on the top, but it would have happened either way. I have devoted so much of my life to the program for the past 12 years. It has consumed me, and I am now at a stage in life with my kids (4 and 6) where I am excited to have more time for them.”

Brobeck is also an advanced placement English teacher at Laguna Beach High, and said he will remain in that position.

He said some of his best memories as coach were the two state championships, as well as winning league for the first time in 2003 and getting the track program to CIF runner-up status in 2005.

“The very best memories, though, are some of the individual conversations and relationships I built with kids over the years,” he said in the e-mail.

The school will look for a replacement; Brobeck said he didn’t have one in mind.