PREP WEDNESDAY : STRETCHING BOUNDARIES : Some Public School Coaches Complain of Catholic Schools’ Sphere of Influence

It’s opening night of the 1988 high school football season and a capacity crowd of 8,000 is in Orange Coast College’s LeBard Stadium to watch Fountain Valley play Mater Dei.

The schools represent Orange County’s elite football programs. Fountain Valley is ranked No. 1 in the county, Mater Dei is No. 2.

There are real differences in the programs. Fountain Valley is the county’s largest public school with an enrollment of 2,900 students. Mater Dei is the largest private school west of the Mississippi River, with 2,150 students and a waiting list of several hundred more.

Fountain Valley draws its students from inside distinct boundaries. Mater Dei’s students come from all around Orange County, and beyond; students who live within Fountain Valley’s district have the option of attending Mater Dei.

Fountain Valley will net about $6,500 from this game, perhaps its biggest payday of the regular season. But even with that kind of financial incentive, Fountain Valley remains one of only a handful of public high schools in Orange County willing to play the large Catholic schools.

Many public school coaches refuse to play the Mater Deis and Servites of the high school world. They don’t want to play schools that have no boundaries or districts governing where they can draw their athletes.

“We’ve never played Servite or Mater Dei, and I don’t intend to,” Bob Johnson, El Toro coach, said. “I won’t play any school that operates under a different set of rules than we do. A quarterback could live right across the street from El Toro High and attend Mater Dei.

“I’m not saying that’s wrong, that’s fine for Mater Dei. We should play them. It would be a big draw, a big game, and we like big games. But I won’t play them as long as they play under a different set of rules.”

Mike Milner, Fountain Valley coach, said the school first began playing Catholic schools in 1978 when the Barons scheduled Servite. Mater Dei followed in 1981. Milner began the series more out out of necessity than for financial reasons.

“We started playing Servite because we couldn’t find anyone else to play,” he said. “I didn’t particularly want to play Mater Dei because I don’t like playing schools with our players.”

Milner estimated that 5 or 6 players from within his district have become starters at Mater Dei during his 10 years of coaching, including former all-county linebacker Joe Donohue.

“I don’t lose sleep over who’s playing at Mater Dei from our district, but you become aware of who’s there, especially an all-county player like Donohue,” he said.

When Danny O’Neil, a sophomore quarterback at Corona del Mar, transferred to Mater Dei last February, Corona del Mar Principal Dennis Evans accused the Mater Dei coaches of using undue influence in recruiting O’Neil.

The Southern Section’s Executive Committee later found Mater Dei guilty of using undue influence in recruiting O’Neil but stopped short of sanctioning the school or penalizing coaches or athletes. Mater Dei is currently under probation for a year.

O’Neil has developed into one of the county’s top quarterbacks at Mater Dei, but his publicized transfer has left some animosity among county coaches toward the school.

Many coaches and administrators at Catholic schools say they believe their counterparts at public schools unfairly accuse them of recruiting athletes.

Marijon Ancich, who won 188 games at St. Paul High in Santa Fe Springs before moving to Tustin High in 1983, says Catholic schools are often in a no-win situation.

“If you (public school) beat them, then the coaches did a great job,” Ancich said. “If you lose, then they (parochial school) recruited all their players. People tend to think that everyone attending a parochial school was recruited and is there for athletics.

“I never recruited a player at St. Paul. If I could have recruited players, if I would have recruited players, we would have never lost a game.”

Chuck Gallo, Mater Dei football coach, has held head coaching jobs at Catholic and public schools in his 25-year career. He said there are definite advantages and disadvantages to coaching at a Catholic school.

“The rules allow our school to admit kids from all areas,” he said. “But they also have to pass an entrance examination and pay $2,500 to attend Mater Dei. Then they have to find transportation to school every day. That’s a heavy tab.

“I know there are coaches who will not schedule a Catholic school because they think we’re bandits that recruited kids from their schools.”

Gallo pointed to the transfer of Foothill running back Johnny Mountain to Anaheim last spring. He wonders why little was written about Mountain’s move.

“Here’s a back who is a 2-year varsity starter transferring and nobody says anything about it,” Gallo said. “But Danny O’Neil, a sophomore team quarterback who has never played in a varsity game, leaves Corona del Mar to come to Mater Dei and there’s a CIF hearing.

“If Johnny Mountain had come to Mater Dei, it would have been the biggest thing to hit the newspapers since a major earthquake.”

Gallo admits Mater Dei, an image-conscious school, has become sensitive to adverse publicity or criticism since the O’Neil hearing.

“We operate in a fishbowl,” he said. “Everything we do is watched on and off campus. I can only run my program the way I think is correct.

“But I know if we win, some will say we cheated, that we recruited our quarterback from Corona del Mar. If and when we’re ever fortunate enough to go 14-0, I’m sure everyone will accuse us of everything under the sun.”

Tom Vitello began his first season as athletic director at Servite last month. Servite is an all-boys’ Catholic school of 680 students in Anaheim with a rich tradition in athletics. Vitello estimated that 65% of the students attending Servite participate in athletics. The Friar football team has qualified for the Southern Section playoffs 16 consecutive years.

Despite the success, Servite has experienced a decline in enrollment of about 220 students this year, and its varsity team fielded only 43 players for its opening game.

Vitello is part of a new administration that includes Father Patrick Donovan, principal, and a new football coach, 28-year-old Jerry Person. The new regime hopes to change what has become a tarnished image.

“The standards dropped and the image perceived by the public dropped,” Vitello said. “There has been a lot of dissatisfaction. People who knew that Servite represented class saw a lot of things they didn’t like.”

Coaches at Fountain Valley and Edison grew tired of Servite’s former coaches failing to exchange game films at appointed times and sites. Finally, they decided not to renew their contracts to play Servite in nonleague games despite good attendance.

Vitello is determined to remedy Servite’s image.

“We pride ourselves in being a top school,” he said. “We’ve always demonstrated class. My objective is to uphold this philosophy. Also, some people have this perception that we hire guns for our football team.

“Parents choose our school for academics and athletics. They fairly choose to come to our school. We don’t actively go after them. If there have been overzealous outside factors influencing a student to attend Servite, this administration will put a stop to it.”

Tom Carroll, athletic director at Damien High in La Verne, has been involved in the Catholic school system for 34 years. He spent 2 years at Mater Dei and thinks success on the athletic field perpetuates many of the Catholic school’s winning programs.

“Mater Dei is a first-class operation, it doesn’t have to recruit,” he said. “When the team and the band take the field, it’s like a shiny new car you want to buy. The total package and those kids sell that school, not the coaches.”