Ocean View High hires Rusty Van Cleave as boys’ basketball coach

Ocean View High School has hired Rusty Van Cleave as its new boys’ basketball head coach.

“I am incredibly excited about being the head coach at Ocean View,” Van Cleave said via text message on Wednesday. “It is an awesome opportunity, and I am really grateful for the chance to be at a program with such great tradition. We have an experienced group returning, and we all are looking forward to getting started.”

Van Cleave, 50, brings a decorated résumé to the Seahawks bench, having won two CIF Southern Section championships as the head coach of Foothill for 13 seasons (2004-17). Those titles came in 2010 (Division 3AA) — 64-58 win over Ocean View — and 2015 (Division 1A) — 65-58 win over Edison. Van Cleave also earned CIF Coach of the Year honors in each of those seasons.

Foothill also won four league championships and made four state playoff appearances under his tutelage.

In his final eight seasons at Foothill, the Knights averaged 23 wins per season, a feat accomplished while competing in the deep Century and Crestview leagues. Over that period, the Knights went 186-55, a winning percentage of 77.2%.

Van Cleave left as the winningest coach in Foothill history with 257 victories. Van Cleave has also served as an assistant coach at Estancia, Santa Margarita, Villa Park and Mater Dei.

Serving most recently as an assistant on the coaching staff at Mater Dei, Van Cleave said he felt an undeniable tug to become a head coach again.

“It was really a very rewarding few years away from being the head coach,” Van Cleave said of his time with the Monarchs. “Once you’ve sat in that chair, either the desire has left you, or it’s still there, and it was very evident to me that I wanted to get back and run my own program.

“Ocean View opening up seemed like a great opportunity to build on a great tradition. I’ll be able to coach local kids that want to play for that school and be at a school that loves basketball, [and has] great facilities. [Having] an athletic director like Tim Walsh [at Ocean View], that’s a former coach, is always a good thing.”

Walsh, like Van Cleave, believes the shoe fits.

“He did very well in a league with some very good basketball teams, and he brought Foothill from a team that probably wasn’t, when he first got there, on the same level as those guys, but by the time he left, they definitely were one of the best programs in Orange County,” Walsh said. “His ability as a coach is impressive, and what he’s able to do with the program, what he’s done in the past, we’re confident he can bring that magic to Ocean View.”

The Seahawks have had a highly successful boys’ basketball program in their own right with 26 league championships and two CIF titles.

Ocean View has continued to make postseason appearances despite a revolving door of head coaches as of late. Roger Holmes and Walsh served as co-head coaches from 2014-18. Jimmy Harris took over the following year, and Brendan Holmes was the head coach last season.

Walsh acknowledged that experience coaching against Van Cleave factored into the decision to bring him on as head coach of the Seahawks. During the 2009-10 season, Walsh was an assistant coach for the late Jim Harris when Ocean View lost to Van Cleave and Foothill in the Division 3AA final.

“I’ve coached against Rusty a few times, and I’ve seen him coach a bunch of times because they were in our tournament a few years, too,” Walsh said “The thing about coaching against him, what was always so difficult, his teams were so prepared. They were so tough to play against because the game plan was so solid.

“Unfortunately, I have bad memories of coaching against Rusty, going back to the 2010 championship game.”

Ocean View went 16-13 overall and 6-4 in the Golden West League last season, finishing in third place.

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