Rocky Ciarelli steps down as Newport Harbor boys’ volleyball coach, calls it a career

Rocky Ciarelli said Thursday that he has officially resigned as Newport Harbor High boys’ volleyball coach and begun his retirement from coaching.

Ciarelli, 62, had informed the team and the school prior to the season that it would be his final year in charge of the program. He spent five seasons with the Sailors, leading them to CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship matches in the last two.

Ciarelli said not being able to coach his nephew, senior Dayne Chalmers, factored into his decision to step down.

The UC Santa Barbara-bound Chalmers was a big reason why Ciarelli, who spent 24 seasons at the helm of Huntington Beach, returned to coaching high school volleyball in 2015. Ciarelli guided Chalmers for four seasons and they leave the Sailors as champions.

Newport Harbor defeated Manhattan Beach Mira Costa 25-20, 25-23, 15-25, 25-21 in the section final this year. The Sailors also beat Mira Costa 18-25, 25-17, 25-12, 25-19 for the CIF State Southern California Regional Division I title.

“I knew at a fairly young age that I wanted to coach,” Ciarelli said. “I loved sports. I loved athletics, and I enjoy kids. As I’ve gotten older, it’s funny. You get to grandfather age, like me, and I think you enjoy kids even more than you did when I was younger.

“It’s just been an enjoyable experience all throughout the coaching.”

Ciarelli coached high school volleyball for 32 seasons. He began his career at Edison from 1982-84. He was at Huntington Beach from 1985-2008.

While coaching for the Oilers, Ciarelli won back-to-back CIF Southern Section Division I championships on the boys’ side in 1993 and 1994. In 1996, Ciarelli also led the Huntington Beach girls’ volleyball team to CIF Southern Section Division IIAA and CIF State Division II titles.

Asked if there was a particular matchup that he looked forward to throughout the years, Ciarelli said that Newport Harbor had always been a big rival when he was at Huntington Beach. Later as the coach of the Sailors, the matches that were marked on the calendar shifted to those played against Back Bay rival Corona del Mar.

While the rivalry match changed depending on the school, Ciarelli’s season-long goals never did. He always wanted to win the Sunset League and win a CIF championship.

“I would say out of the 32 years, we had a legitimate chance quite a few of those years,” Ciarelli said. “The goal was always to win CIF. That was the major goal.

“I coached in the Sunset League. The Sunset League is a tough league to win, so winning league was always a big thing, too.”

In his final season, Newport Harbor went 39-1 overall and 5-1 in the Surf League to share the league championship with CdM. It was the first season of the Surf League, which represented the top half of the eight-team Sunset Conference.

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