Legendary De La Salle coach Bob Ladouceur to clarify his future Friday

Unless Bob Ladouceur runs one of those trick plays that he's been known to unleash over the last 34 years, the Hall of Fame De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) football coach is likely about to step away from the legendary program that he built.

The school sent out a press release moments ago that Ladouceur has requested a news conference at 3 p.m. Friday at the school to discuss "the future of De La Salle football."

This would almost certainly indicate that the 58-year-old is stepping away from his head coaching duties, something that he's openly discussed with reporters over the last month.

He's said more than once that he's tired of all the duties that the head coaching job entails and that he would likely step down after the 2012 or 2013 season. He's noted that coaching at De La Salle has "been a good life. I've really enjoyed it."

It wouldn't be the understated Ladouceur's nature to call attention to himself with a press conference to simply say he is staying.

Following his team's first 15-0 season and fourth-straight CIF Open Division Bowl Game championship, this seems a perfect drop off point. The fact he has 399 wins — against 25 defeats and three ties — wouldn't entice him to stay another season to get No. 400.

Ladouceur has never been about the numbers, though they've certainly helped define him, and why a book was written about the program — "When the Game Stands Tall" — and why a Hollywood movie based on the book is in the planning stages.

* His 399 wins are most in California history.

* His .938 winning percentage for coaches with more than 200 wins is a national record.

* The Spartans won a national record 151 games in a row from 1992-2004, at the time it had more than doubled the previous mark.

* Since a 35-27 loss to Pittsburg in the 1991 North Coast Section championship, De La Salle has not lost to a Northern California team — a span of 236 games.

* De La Salle has appeared in all seven CIF Bowl championships (winning five) and has captured 28 NCS titles, the last 21 consecutively.

* He has more NCS titles (28) than career loses (25) and never had a losing season.

Read our feature on Ladouceur before the 2008 State Bowl game

His longtime defensive coordinator Terry Eidson doesn't think Ladouceur will retire from coaching, but might simply step away from the head coaching ranks.

Perhaps, even, take an assistant's role or over the freshman team.

"He's not going to retire from coaching," Eidson said after De La Salle's 48-28 win over Centennial (Corona) for the Open Division title last month in Carson. "He loves coaching. When the time comes — and I'm not saying it's now — he's still going to do (some coaching) at De La Salle. He loves it. He's fantastic at it (coaching and teaching). It's his one true love."

Centennial coach Matt Logan, who had split two earlier bowl games with De La Salle, said after the same game: "He sets the standard. Not only in the way his teams play and execute but how they conduct themselves. It's been a pleasure to coach against him. He's made me and our staff better coaches."

Ladouceur's successor by all indications would likely be offensive line coach Justin Alumbaugh, a former De La Salle player who has been on staff since 1998.

The Spartans' offensive front and explosion off the line has been a signature of the program. Alumbaugh has been groomed for the head spot for years and has been ready to plug in whenever Ladouceur decided to call it quits.

That apparently — in at least some major capacity — appears to be the case right now.

We'll all find out Friday. Mitch Stephens, who has covered De La Salle football since 1984, five years after Ladouceur took the job, is a senior writer and columnist for MaxPreps.com. Follow him on Twitter @MitchMashMax.