California: A coaching legend passes at El Segundo

Stevenson's program reached the playoffs 42 times, and won 30 league titles and seven championships. His program compiled a 1,059-419 record.

"John had integrity and compassion," South Torrance coach Jerry McIlvaine told the Torrance Daily Breeze. "His teams never were bad. Some might not have the great records others had, but they never played bad baseball."

Former player Craig Cousins, an assistant coach for 37 years, has been named Stevenson's replacement.

Stevenson began coaching in 1960 at age 26. He grew up in the South Bay and played baseball for Redondo, El Camino College and UCLA. Hall of Fame third baseman George Brett, pitcher Scott McGregor and umpire Derryl Cousins were among major leaguers coached by Stevenson.

He became the seventh coach in the nation to reach 1,000 wins, and the first in California. He is a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations Hall of Fame.

He taught geography for 30 years before retiring from the classroom in the early 1980s, and then served as athletic director for 13 years. Stevenson's wife, Gail, died in September from ovarian cancer. She was 68.

An icon in the South Bay, Stevenson Field is already named in his honor at El Segundo. A memorial service will be held Jan. 23 at El Segundo High.

The carnage that is the USC recruiting landscape kept getting worse as the week wore on and rumors became fact. On Tuesday, it didn't seem like it could possibly get better. After Pete Carroll bolted for the NFL, making an announcement on Monday after a weekend of rumor and innuendo, prep athletes around the Southland who wanted to continue the tradition at Troy instead found themselves rethinking their commitment to the program that Carroll made a national championship contender.

Defensive end Ronald Powell of Moreno Valley Rancho Verde decided to go to Florida after announcing Saturday at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl that he would attend USC. Powell was the game's most valuable player: He caught a 23-yard touchdown pass, forced a fumble and returned a blocked extra point 100 yards.

Others were open to bolting just as Carroll had.

Then USC pulled the trigger on Lane Kiffin, the coach at Tennessee who will replace Carroll. Kiffin had been at USC for six seasons, but left Tennessee after only one. Before that, he had been the NFL's youngest head coach, with the Raiders, for just under two seasons.

Still, credit athletic director Mike Garrett with completing a Hail Mary. Kiffin had recruited many of the same athletes as USC, so the program can probably salvage this recruiting class, which was considered one of the best in the nation.

Robert Woods, Serra

File photo by Kirby Lee

For recruits such as outstanding Lakewood quarterback Jesse Scroggins – he had given USC a Saturday deadline to name a new coach – the hiring of Kiffin was great news. Kiffin had recruited Scroggins, so the familiarity with the coach means Scroggins will honor his commitment.

Robert Woods, the brilliant receiver/defensive back at Gardena Serra, was understandably going to reassess.

Almost all recruits leaning toward USC, including the likes of Crenshaw linebacker Hayes Pullard, Minnesota offensive lineman Seantrel Henderson and Texas running back Lache Seastrunk, are getting inquiries from other major programs in what amounts to an 11th-hour Christmas blowout. Among those who are still undecided are Dietrich Riley, a La Canada St. Francis all-purpose back, and Christian Thomas, a Palmdale Highland tight end.

Lakewood defensive back Dion Bailey was also recruited by Kiffin, and is expected to remain with USC. Another recruit, receiver Kyle Prater of Hillsdale (Ill.) Proviso West, was also pursued by Tennessee as well as USC. Prater had been scheduled to begin classes this week; although he did not do so, but he reportedly was excited about the Kiffin announcement.

Carroll, for his part, may have tried to salvage the recruiting effort. According to a Los Angeles Times report, Carroll told the father of the MaxPreps national player of the year, San Diego Mission Bay running back Dillon Baxter, during a home visit, "I like winning; I'm not going anywhere," when asked about the NFL rumors. Baxter, who had verbally committed to USC, is now being pursued by Florida.

By targeting a coach and acting promptly, Bellflower St. John Bosco avoided missing out on its preferred candidate by choosing alumnus Jason Negro, 36, from Mission Viejo Trabuco Hills. Negro replaced Kiki Mendoza, whose dismissal only became known recently. The Bosco opening became the fourth marquee opening of the postseason, and the Braves acted quicker than their Pac-5 Division rivals Los Angeles Loyola, Encino Crespi and Santa Margarita.

For Negro, 36, it was the only job that would have made him say goodbye to Trabuco Hills.

"I was really happy and wasn't looking to leave," Negro said Tuesday. "We finished up in the finals, I got a call the following week. I wasn't interested in Santa Margarita, Loyola or Crespi. It wasn't until Bosco called that I became interested. That's the only job I would have left for. I'm not looking at it as a steppingstone to go anywhere else. This will be the peak of my career."

Although the other high-profile positions have been opened longer, Bosco took care of business quickly, before losing its targeted candidate. They, like many, thought that Negro might have pursued the opening at nearby Santa Margarita. "I wouldn't do that out of respect for my kids and the community," Negro said. "I would feel really weird running into kids at Ralph's wearing a Santa Margarita sweatshirt."

Negro replaces Mendoza, who was fired after 20 seasons, 12 as head coach. Negro coached for three seasons under Mendoza, who had been a team captain for the 1985 Bosco squad. Bosco (5-5, 2-3) lost its last three Trinity League games – against Servite, Mater Dei and Orange Lutheran – and missed the playoffs. The Braves haven't made the playoffs since 2004 and haven't won a league title since 2002 in the Serra League; they won six league games the past four seasons.

Negro was 52-33 over seven seasons, including 2-8 his first season and 12-2 in his last. Trabuco Hills reached the Southwest Division finals two of the last four years, including this season, and reached the section semifinals the past four seasons.

"It's a great opportunity for me to go back to my alma mater, and it's something I always had a dream to do," Negro said. "I don't feel I need to coach at the highest level and the biggest league. It will be exciting and a challenge, but I always wanted to be at Bosco. It's a special place, and I've been a part of the school since I was a young guy. It will be nice to go back and be comfortable."

Johnny Brown has resigned at Pomona after learning school officials were interviewing candidates for his job. The program was 6-4 under Brown, a longtime defensive coordinator and alumnus of Pomona. A walk-on coach, he had been asked to take over the head coaching position after having coached on-and-off at Pomona since 1995.

"I was perfectly fine being the defensive coordinator down here," Brown told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. "That's all I really wanted to do. They asked me if I wanted to be the head coach, and I thought it would be a great opportunity, and I thought we did a lot with the kids. Now, I have all the regrets in the world. I go from the head coach to nothing when everything was perfectly fine before they hired me."

Pomona went 6-4-1 overall and 5-0 in the Valle Vista League in 2003, but failed to win more than four games over the next four seasons. It finished 6-4, 2-3 in 2008, and then again under Brown in 2009. The next coach Pomona hire will be the fourth in five years.

Chris Ferragamo has resigned as coach at Banning after a 26-year career in which he compiled a 179-52-5 record. He had just completed his second stint at Banning, four years, and delivered stability to a program that had struggled in his absence. Ferragamo, 69, coached Banning to eight of its 11 City Section titles, including six in a row from 1976-1982. Over the past four seasons Ferragamo's program was 21-24, including 9-3 in 2007 and 4-7 this season.

"We're now at a point where we can move forward, we can sustain it," Ferragamo told the Torrance Daily Breeze. "I want to let a young guy come in now and take it to the next level. Someone full of enthusiasm, like I was 40 years ago."

The knee is a fragile instrument for an athlete, but Marcus Farrand of La Habra Sonora seems to have damaged the merchandise more than most. Farrand is back on the floor for the Raiders after recovering from a fourth knee operation in 11 months. And the team hasn't lost since his return in late December.

Farrand, whose GPA is 4.6, played only the first six games last season before undergoing surgery. The most recent operation, in July, removed screws that had been part of the process of repairing a lesion on the kneecap. He was given a 50-50 chance of playing again.

The Raiders were 19-1 with him in the lineup last season, then lost two of the next three without him. They finished 27-4. This season, Sonora is 15-4 overall, 7-0 since Farrand's return. He has averaged 12.3 points and 8.5 rebounds a game.

"In 25 years of coaching, I've never seen this," Sonora coach Mike Murphy said of the injury, the onslaught of surgeries and the recovery. "The amazing thing is he played a couple of games on it last year. Doctors said he shouldn't have been able to walk, much less play."

Sonora played all summer without Farrand and didn't expect to have him this season. Without him, the Raiders are still good: They were 28-2 over the summer.

"To get a guy like him back makes us really good," Murphy said. "He said he's about 90 percent of what he was last year, I'd say 70 percent, but I'll take that 70 percent in a heartbeat. And every week he gets a little stronger, gets in a little better shape."

Farrand, a long-armed center, and Conner Kjer, Sonora's best player, give Sonora a powerful 1-2 punch.

"I've never had two 6-foot-7 guys who complement each other like that," Murphy said. "If we can get healthy with those two guys, we can be really good."

Compton expected to be one of the top teams in the South Bay this season, but a 4-9 start quashed any feelings of superiority. The Tarbabes lost practice time in their gym because it was being worked on, and appeared to lose the respect of those who put out the rankings. So, according to the Long Beach Press Telegram, coach Tony Thomas gave each player a copy of the paper's top 10 (in which Compton had appeared in at the beginning of the season) before the Moore League opener against Long Beach Wilson, which was listed at No. 8. Thomas challenged his players, who responded with a 75-52 victory. Then they followed with a 70-53 victory over No. 6 Long Beach Cabrillo. Then they beat No. 5 L.B. Jordan, 65-64, on Monday.

Compton's roster includes three sophomores, five juniors and four seniors. Among the youthful team members are Anthony January, a 6-6 sophomore forward averaging 14.4 points, and Allan Guei, a 5-9 point guard averaging 15.4 points who had been the team's shooting guard a year ago. Senior Cliff Sims Jr., a 6-5 forward, is averaging a team-high 17.3 points.

Manny Flores, who headed the girls basketball program at San Gabriel before his freshman coach played in a junior varsity game, said he did not try to cover up the incident as school administrators had suggested in their firing of him.

Flores, JV coach Mark Ho and freshman coach Jannie Hann, 21, who played in a nonleague JV game against El Monte that San Gabriel lost, 37-15, were dismissed. School administrators said Flores attempted to cover it up.

Flores refuted that assessment. "I did not try to cover it up," Flores said in an e-mail to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. "I was shocked to see my coach playing in a game. It was disheartening because she was a responsible individual. Maybe I handled it the wrong way by waiting a day, but I was trying to find out why they did what they did, but I got no response. But to say I tried to cover it up, no way. I do not stand for things like that."

Flores said he waited a day in order to get more information and because he was unsure of how to handle the situation, before he brought the incident to the attention of the athletic director.

Junior Lonnie Jackson of Valencia is averaging 26.8 points, but his father, Lance, who is also his shooting coach, told the L.A. Daily News that his son is just warming up. "When it's done, he's going to set scoring records that will take a long time to break," Jackson said. "He doesn't even realize how good he will be. If he was selfish, he could average 35 points, but he does the things he's supposed to do."

Two of the top-ranked teams in the nation will meet on Monday as much to celebrate the life of an Orange County coach as much as determining bragging rights.

Santa Ana Mater Dei and Brea Olinda are the headline performers in the Tony Matson Memorial Games, which take place Jan. 18 at Mater Dei. Net proceeds will provide much-needed financial assistance for Matson's family, which includes wife Heidi and three young daughters

Matson was 44 when he died in April. He had been an assistant coach at Brea before becoming the head coach at Orange Lutheran, which competes in the Trinity League against Mater Dei. Last season he guided Orange Lutheran to the section finals for the first time since 1981; he compiled a 197-75 record and won five league championships in 10 seasons.

"We hope that with this special day we can honor coach Tony Matson for all his contributions to the basketball community," said Kevin Kiernan, Mater Dei's coach.

Mater Dei (15-0) is ranked No. 1 and Brea (12-2) is No. 4 nationally in MaxPreps Xcellent 25.

The teams used to meet with some regularity in high-profile nonleague games, but that has not been the case for a few years. The rivalry reignited last season in the Southern California Regional finals when unbeaten Mater Dei was defeated by Brea, 44-38, for the right to advance to the Division II state championship, which it won.

"The real purpose of the evening is to give back to a man and a family who understood that basketball is a game and that real reason we play, coach and support the game is the opportunity to grow as people," Brea coach Jeff Sink said. "There will be no losers on Monday."

Three Trinity League schools will take on public school powers in successive games: Santa Ana Foothill vs. Rosary at 4:30 p.m., No. 23 Villa Park vs. Matson's team, No. 36 Lutheran at 6 p.m.; and Brea-Mater Dei at 7:30. The showcase hopes to raise more than $25,000.

Shannon Denney broke a school scoring record for La Canada with 42 points in a 76-33 victory over San Marino. Denney, a senior, broke the record of 40 set in the 1991-92 season by Melissa Lord. Denney is averaging 14.1 points.

Dana Hills defeated San Clemente, 57-49, in a girls basketball game marking the first time the Dolphins have beaten the 12-time defending South Coast League champion since 1995.

Harbor City Narbonne used to rule the Los Angeles City Section, but its grasp became a little less sure after coach James Anderson got fired. This year, View Park seemed to catch everyone's fancy, but Narbonne scored a 51-47 semifinal victory over the City's No. 1 team behind 18 points and 11 rebounds from Fairfax tournament MVP Atoe Jackson. The Gauchos followed it up with a 57-38 victory over L.A. Washington.

Long Beach Poly is No. 3 nationally in girls basketball, but the Jackrabbits should be even better as Thaddesia Southall returns. Southall, a 6-3 senior, has been out all season after suffering a knee injury in July. She has committed to USC, and averaged 10.7 points last season. Poly has won four consecutive state titles.

Poly's girls basketball may be bolstered by the return of Southall, but the boys team is now without Shelton Boykin, a 6-5 senior guard committed to Long Beach State. Boykin broke his wrist in a game on Dec. 30 and is out for the season. The Jackrabbits (13-3) played their first two games without Boykin and beat Lakewood by 14 points, and Wilson by 35.

Sisters Timmarie and Mariah Durian both play basketball, but not for the same team. Senior Timmarie competes for Placentia El Dorado, and sophomore Mariah for Anaheim Esperanza. Their dad Gary is the scorekeeper for both teams, but for this game, their mom, Christy, kept score for Esperanza.

They faced each other last week with the older sister getting the better of the younger one, 44-35, in a nonleague game. Timmarie scored four points in the winning effort; Mariah 10 in the losing one.

"I was really nervous before the game because I want her to do really good," Timmarie told the Orange County Register. "Before the game my coach pulled me aside and said, 'I want you to guard your sister because you are a really good defensive player.' I was like, 'OK, um ...' I want her to score, but I don't want her to score on me."

Agoura has won its first 17 games and is led by Sasha Borenstein, Kylie Cunningham and Brittany Oster, and any game plan has to begin with them. But Agour coach Steve Scrifres thinks his role players, senior Liz Levy and juniors Camille Mahlknecht and Sam Fisher, have been the key to success. When the stars don't align, someone else has to be there to pick up the slack. The other girls are there to pick them up," Scifres told the L.A. Daily News. "Camille deserves a lot of credit for where we're at, especially defensively."

You thought it was over, right? The 45th annual Lions Club All-Star game is Saturday at Manhattan Beach Mira Costa at 1 p.m., for seniors from 25 different South Bay schools. Coaches are Greg Holt of West Torrance and Mark Gomez of Lawndale.

Wade Yandall, an offensive lineman at Carson, has committed to UCLA. "It was getting stressful and I didn't know what to do," Yandall told the Torrance Daily Breeze. "I'm a Christian, so I prayed on it. Soon enough, I got my answer. Everywhere I looked I saw UCLA. Everywhere I went, people were wearing UCLA clothes."