MORGAN HILL
Varsity wrestling coach Robert Fernandez wants his job back.
Numerous parents of Live Oak High School wrestlers want him back, too.
LOHS Principal Lloyd Webb, though, is “going in a different direction” and has told Fernandez that his contract will not be renewed.
“The circumstances I can’t really go into,” said Webb of why Fernandez and his staff, including head assistant Armando Gonzalez, was not welcomed back for a 10th season. “My goal is to not embarrass anybody.”
However, Central Coast Section Commissioner Nancy Lazenby Blaser said LOHS wrestling was placed on probation this year for a “practice violation” and will remain on probation through the 2013-14 season. Only three of 45 schools currently on probation are so because of a practice violation, said Lazenby Blaser.
“A practice violation is not very common,” Lazenby Blaser said. “The coaches are pretty good about knowing the rules.”
The team was given no punishment nor any kind of post-season ban for the violation, according to Fernandez, and he thought the situation “was over with.”
“I thought we dealt with everything pretty well,” said Fernandez, who was told by Webb and athletic director Mark Cummins last week in the principal’s office of his non-renewal. “I was kind of shocked to tell you the truth. I was kind of blind-sided.”
Gonzalez, who joined Fernandez’s staff three seasons ago, said the practice violation was “self-reported” by the LOHS administration, not the wrestling staff, but was not accurate. According to the veteran coach, the claim was made that LOHS wrestling coaches had middle-school aged students working out with high school wrestlers, a violation of CCS rules. Gonzalez, however, called it a “complete misunderstanding,” although the Acorns were still placed on probation.
Fernandez, whose Acorn grapplers won their fourth straight Blossom Valley Athletic League dual meet title and the school’s first league tournament title this past winter, has his own ideas about why he won’t be coaching in Morgan Hill next year. However, he did not want “to burn any bridges” if there was a shot he could return to LOHS.
“I’m kind of taking the high road on all of this just in case there’s a glimmer of hope we can come back,” said Fernandez, who was the official coach on staff at LOHS, but allowed Gonzalez to come aboard three years ago. “I thought I was going to be at Live Oak for the next 10 years.”
Parent Daniel Locsin – whose son, junior Isaiah Locsin, is a California Interscholastic Federation state wrestling champion and three-time state finalist for the Acorns – didn’t hold back on his feelings.
“All us parents are shocked, disappointed and confused as to why these coaches are not being allowed back,” said Locsin. “The principal has never been to a dual meet, never been to a tournament, he’s never even seen the kids practice to know just how hard they work.”
Fernandez has a daughter who is a junior wrestler for the Acorns and more soon-to-be high school aged children who were planning on attending LOHS, but is uncertain if either will be back.
“First and foremost, we’re kind of in a holding pattern to see how this is going to play out,” said Fernandez, who along with Gonzalez also work with the Rhinos Youth Wrestling Club in Morgan Hill, essentially a feeder program. “We’re trying to stay as positive as possible.”
Meanwhile, Webb told the Times that he’s already interviewed several “experienced” candidates for the head varsity wrestling position, which was posted May 6 on www.edjoin.org with a $2,748 annual salary.
“We’re being very careful to get the very best candidate,” Webb said. “Our goal is minimize any disruption (to the program) …We’re just going to move forward from here.”
Locsin, whose son is being highly recruited by the likes of Stanford, Cornell and Columbia, is not impressed: “For him to try to select our coaches now, after not attending a single tournament, dual meet or practice, we’d be ignorant as parents to be confident in his choice,” he said. Locsin added he has not discussed with his son if he will return to LOHS for his senior year.
Over his nine-year run as head coach, Fernandez has groomed three CIF state champions: Locsin, who won a state title at 113 pounds his sophomore year and placed second this year; as well as girls state titleists Amy Fearnside and Moriah Fernandez.
“(The non-renewal) was a complete shock to my family … We wrestle to gain the ultimate goal in my family, a scholarship and a college education,” wrote Moriah Fernandez, Coach Fernandez’s daughter, in an email addressed to Superintendent Wesley Smith. “Nothing is more important to my family than our education. Wrestling is what keeps us on our path.”
Moriah Fernandez’s path earned her a scholarship to Menlo College. She then graduated from the United States Olympic Education Center at Northern Michigan University.
“I thank everyday that I had the opportunity and support from my wrestling family,” she continued. “These student-athletes may not get the same opportunities I had without the help and support of this illustrious staff.”
One current female wrestler, Isabella Fernandez, took to YouTube, creating a video entitled “Save Live Oak Wrestling” with the Journey song “Just A Small Town Girl” playing throughout.
“Now our program is on the verge of collapse without a coach or staff to train us for next season,” said Isabella Fernandez, who detailed that seven members stand to lose possible scholarship opportunities. “I know we seem like a small team from a small country town, but we have big hearts and we learned that from all of our coaches.”
Gonzalez, who came out of retirement to help resurrect the LOHS program with the blessing of Fernandez, was the braintrust behind neighboring Gilroy High School’s wrestling dynasty. He coached his two sons, two-time state champion Martin and two-time state placer Armando Jr., at GHS, where he was head coach for seven of the Mustangs’ 10 section titles.
“For us to bring Mando to Live Oak is something that that principal doesn’t even know how special that is,” Locsin said. “He’s one of the best coaches in the state, if not the nation. That just shows his ignorance…”
Gonzalez was not present when Fernandez was given the disappointing news from Webb, but shared with the Times exactly why he believes the staff is not being welcomed back. Gonzalez said the Rhinos practiced year round in a make-shift wrestling room on the LOHS campus for which the LOHS administration charged them $980 in monthly rent. The volunteer coach said the Rhinos were two weeks late in making their rent payment. That, coupled with the CCS practice violation were the reasons for Fernandez’s dismissal.
“All of us (excluding Fernandez) for last three years have been doing this for free,” said Gonzalez, who donated his own wrestling mat, uniforms and equipment to start up a wrestling program at Britton Middle School. He even placed volunteer coaches to run the middle school programs at Britton as well as Martin Murphy Middle School. And “everything we got from (club fees) from the Morgan Hill Rhinos has been used to fund the high school programs,” Gonzalez said.
“We’ve done everything out of the goodness of our hearts,” said Gonzalez, whose Rhinos club produced 10 national tournament place-winners who are nearing high school age. “They have no idea what they just cut, what they are stopping … These kids are not going to Live Oak, anymore.”
Webb did not return a second phone call from the Times to respond to Gonzalez’s claims about Fernandez’s non-renewal.
“I can’t really comment on the impetus for my decision,” said Webb.
Parents Robert Yurosko and Bob Aochi, who both have daughters on the LOHS wrestling team, don’t want to move in a “different direction.” They want Fernandez, Gonzalez and the rest of the staff back.
“I like them because they encourage the kids to give it their best. They both really care about the kids,” said Yurosko, whose stepdaughter, Christina Parea, placed second at CCS to qualify for the state championships this past season. “If they weren’t to stay at Live Oak, the wrestling team will die.”
Aochi, who was one of three parents to speak at Tuesday’s school board meeting in support of the LOHS wrestling staff, said the coaches were there “100 percent for my daughter and the rest of the kids on the team.” He had hoped two more years under Fernandez and Gonzalez could possibly lead to a college scholarship for his daughter.
“Sounds like they want to come back, but they weren’t offered the opportunity,” said Aochi, whose daughter, Amber, also completed a successful sophomore season with the Acorns.
His wife, Amy Aochi, just wants the coaches back next season.
“They helped her so much with her self-confidence,” Amy said. “It’s such a great program. It’s such a bummer that this happened. Hopefully, we can get them back.”
The Live Oak coaches held a May 5 meeting to inform parents that their contract was not being renewed for next season. The part-time varsity wrestling coach was posted on www.edjoin.org. The requirements include CIF and CPR/First Aid Certification, letter(s) of recommendation, resume and TB screening result. Yurosko and Aochi both said they saw a similar listing in the classified section of the Mercury News.
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“I didn’t expect this to happen that’s for sure,” Locsin said. “I would’ve liked everything to stay the same with the team continuing to grow as it has over the last few years … with the same coaches who have built personal relationships with these kids.”
While Fernandez is not completely ruling out a possible return to LOHS, Gonzalez said he has turned his attentions to the Pumas freestyle wrestling club team he had helped start during his GHS coaching days.
“There’s a lot of broken hearts right now,” said Gonzalez, who was using the same formula at LOHS that fueled GHS’s rise to wrestling royalty. “There are a lot of kids who are being affected right now by (Webb’s) choice.”
Reach Scott Forstner at
sf*******@mo*************.com
