By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
ORINDA, Calif. - Darrell Hirashima’s cell phone finally went dead mid-afternoon on Wednesday. Remarkably, his coaching career is still very much alive in Orinda.
The highly successful and likeable Miramonte (Orinda, Calif.) girls basketball coach was faxed paperwork earlier in the day to re-new his year-to-year contract.
This after being fired last month, the second time he’d inexplicably been let go in nine years.
Like the first time in 1999, a tidal wave of support from the community and alumni won Hirashima’s job back, thus the onslaught of congratulatory phone calls and battery malfunction.
He estimated the calls were in the dozens.
“I can’t communicate how thankful I am for the people who gave me support through all this,” said Hirashima, who according to the Contra Costa Times, has piled up a 238-85 record in 11 seasons at Miramonte with one Northern California and four North Coast Section titles, three in the last four seasons. “From the bottom of my heart I can’t thank them enough. They made this entire ordeal somehow worthwhile.”
Despite coming off a 27-4 record, a No. 25 state ranking and ninth straight 20-win season, Hirashima said he saw trouble brewing when he was notified of a complaint from a parent of one of last year’s players was sent to the Acalanes Union High School District.
There’s no love lost between Hirashima and some members of the district, who tried to relieve him of his duties nine years earlier. Playing time for at least one of the district members daughters was at the root, according to insiders.
That firing occurred two weeks before the season, but after a community outcry Hirashima was back on the bench by the season opener.
This time, Hirashima, an off-campus coach who owns a recycling business in Oakland, said he received a one sentence letter from the school’s principal Raul Zamora stating his services would not be retained.
“One sentence for 17 years of service,” Hirashima said last week. “That was a little disturbing.”
Two days later more than 100 community members jammed a meeting of the Acalanes Unified School District governing board with 10 of 11 speakers fervently backing Hirashima, who stood outside.
“If I get my job back it’s only through the incredible efforts of others,” he said last week. “If I do get it back I think this time it will take much longer.”
He was wrong.
Attorneys for the school district sent paperwork to attorneys for Hirashima on Wednesday. He was instructed not to comment to the press until all the documents were signed, but he said “looking it over quickly, there are no deal breakers on my end. … I’m ecstatic.”
So is the entire team said starting center Stephanie Golden, an incoming 6-foot-3 junior who has already been offered a scholarship to St. Mary’s.
“I’m at a loss for words,” said Golden, who averaged 11.8 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game. “I knew it (his reinstatement) was going to happen but not just this fast. Thankfully the board realized that so many people know and love Darrell for the amazing person he is.
“I think basically there were so many people supported him not only around here, but the Bay Area and California, they just realized he was the right one all along.”
Some wonder why Hirashima would take the job back after so many hassles.
Orinda, an upscale East Bay community with an median family income of $132,531, has taken its hits over the years for overly-involved parents.
Bordering two other chic communities Moraga and Lafayette, Orinda is part of a region called Lamorinda, or “the Bermuda Triangle” for coaching casualties. Administrators, backed by the board, have cut bait with one victorious coach after another.
The most outrageous was the firing of then 66-year-old Tom Blackwood, who at the time in 2003 had a 636-337 career mark in 38 seasons, the eighth most wins and third-longest tenure in state history.
Parents claimed Blackwood showed nepotism toward his son and then leading scorer and assist-maker Chris Blackwood. Blackwood was earning a measly $1,740 a season at the time.
“The bottom line in Lamorinda is when it's time to leave, they tell you,” former Acalanes coach Rob Collins told me that season. He resigned in 2002 because he said of pressure from parents after 11 seasons and nine NCS playoff appearances.
Clearly this isn’t a problem relegated to this affluent region. Blackwood raised an interesting point even then.
“Who's going to want to coach anymore?” he said. “Coaches nowadays stick their necks right into the guillotine, hold their breath and wait for the axe to drop.”
Blackwood attended Hirashima’s meeting last week.
“It was like a eulogy for you in there,” he told Hirashima.
When asked what brings Hirashima clamoring for more, he said: “It’s for the players. They keep me going. I’m willing to fight to protect the girls interest.”
Said Golden: “The thought of a whole different coach other than Darrell would have been horrible. It would have been a complete disaster. I’m so happy now.”
If the board hadn’t changed its mind, Golden wonders who would have wanted to replace Hirashima.
“I’d think whoever it was would be afraid to do anything,” she said. “Frankly I don’t know what coach would want to coach in Lamorinda.”
Hirashima clearly does. Like his demeanor on the bench, he’s been calm and philosophical through the entire ordeal.
He’s answered every criticism, including one that kids from outside of feeder schools, and even beyond Lamorinda, are showing up at Miramonte.
Four-year starter Ashlee Burns, who earned a full ride to Cal Poly, grew up in Livermore, a community some 35 miles away. Golden was raised in Clayton, another 20-mile jaunt, but her parents moved to Orinda just before her freshman year.
The fact Hirashima coaches an AAU program in town, the Orinda Magic doesn’t help matters. Kids from all over the Bay Area flock to his program to learn the game and get college exposure. Orinda natives believe their kids aren’t getting a fair shake in Hirashima’s program.
“That’s crazy,” Golden said. “As long as you have a passion for the game and really care, Darrell will spend hour after hour with you no matter if you’re a starter or the last one on the bench.”
Hirashima points to the school’s strong academic reputation – it has 14 advanced placement courses – and the team’s history as reasons why out of area players have enrolled.
“The simple fact is that Miramonte is a public school with really great academics and I’m a pretty good basketball coach,” he said. “If there’s a means to move in and parents want to make that kind of decision so be it. There’s nothing nefarious going on.”
He finds nothing evil or despicable about the Lamorinda community either. His son and daughter attended Miramonte and thrived in sports.
Hirashima believes it’s just a very competitive world. And the pecking order is all eschewed.
“I think it’s a widespread phenomenon,” he said. “It’s where the coaches are the lowest on the totem pole, the district and administrators are the weakest and the parents with the money have the most say and influence.”
In this case, his most fervent and passionate parents and supporters prevailed.
“I’ve always believed and taught that you can learn more from your losses than your wins,” he said. “In my case, when I lost my job, I got re-connected with all the people I forgot supported me. It’s all been a great learning experience. Though I can’t say I want to go through it again.”
Have a similar story in another community throughout the land? E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com.
