Football program
’s struggles blamed on player exodus, funding demands, past
controversy
Just a few weeks ago, the Live Oak High football program held its annual year-end awards banquet, honoring all the accomplishments of its student-athletes from the varsity to the freshman team.
It was worth noting that the banquet came nearly two months to the day after the Acorns finished their 2003 season. It seems nearly everything is out of synch with the football program these days.
A once-proud program finished last season with its second consecutive 0-9-1 campaign and has a 24-game winless streak. Live Oak hasn’t won a varsity football game in two and a half seasons, since a 14-0 victory over Monterey on Oct. 13, 2001. Since then, the closest the Acorns have come to victory were two ties, 20-20 against North Monterey County in 2002 and 20-20 against Alisal last season.
An entire class of seniors came into the program and left without experiencing a single varsity win.
Now the program is facing an uphill battle to return to its traditional winning ways and Head Coach Glen Webb appears to be on the hot seat, expected to turn a program around that faces a number of challenges, including a shrinking student base from which to draw players, fundraising difficulties, school district upheaval and increasingly competitive rivals.
New Live Oak High Athletic Director Mark Cummins said returning the football program to respectability is a top priority and that could involve making unspecified changes. Cummins said pressure is increasing from alumni disappointed by the program’s struggles.
“We’re very aware of the situation and we’re going to see what we can do,” Cummins said. “We’re committed to turning this thing around but no decisions have been made (about possible changes). I know there’s a lot of unrest out there.
“The first question out of alumni is what’s going on with the football program. Our answer is hang in there because we’re going to turn this thing around. We have a long tradition in football and in all athletics — it’s an important part of the school.”
But Webb said he plans on being part of the program’s eventual recovery.
“I plan on being the football coach here until I resign or am replaced,” Webb said.
Live Oak’s struggles would have seemed unthinkable just a few years ago, when Live Oak was coming off a Central Coast Section playoff appearance in Webb’s first year at the program’s helm in 2000. Sure, the Acorns finished the season at 5-5-1 overall, fourth in the Monterey Bay League, and were demolished by Oak Grove 49-6 in the first round of the section playoffs. Sure, the program was stung by the departure of former Head Coach Mark Kaanapu, who left under a cloud of controversy just two years after taking over for the legendary Norm Dow.
But that was supposed to be the down year. Surely, football boosters reasoned, the program would soon return to its long tradition of success under the guidance of Webb — the longtime Dow assistant.
From 1980-97, Live Oak was the epitome of football dominance. Under Dow’s direction, the Acorns won 10 league titles, four CCS titles and went to two more section finals with an overall record of 146-50-7 in 18 seasons. In those days, the Acorns had their own reserved section in the CCS playoffs, making the postseason 15 out of 18 seasons including 13 straight years.
How far, and how fast, the program has fallen since then.
According to those closest to the program, the reasons for the downturn are as varied as the ways the varsity team’s winless streak has been extended.
A shrinking enrollment and a player exodus to private schools have harmed the program’s talent base.
At one point in the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, Live Oak’s enrollment rose above 2,200 students but shrank back to about 1,700 in recent years. And, fewer students means a smaller talent base.
Even more harmful, Webb said, is the exodus of student-athletes to private schools such as CCS powerhouse Valley Christian.
According to the Acorn football coach, a host of Morgan Hill student-athletes are choosing to attend private schools and football is being harmed more than any other sport because of the sheer numbers involved in the sport and because private schools focus on football as their biggest potential fundraiser.
According to Valley Christian administrators, a total of 41 student-athletes from Morgan Hill attend the private school and participate in sports, including 18 who play football at all levels.
However, Webb said he doesn’t believe football is the main reason the student-athletes are leaving and blamed the school district’s disintegrating image for much of the exodus, although he did admit the football program’s recent struggles don’t help.
“The public perception of our school district isn’t real good,” Webb said. “You could almost say our district is driving (students) away and (private school) programs are welcoming them. We need to change the perception of the school district and the fact is that the football program is symptomatic of that. Obviously, the people in charge have a lot to learn about the impact on the athletic programs. But that’s not really a priority for them.”
Webb said he actually had to shoo Valley Christian players away from Live Oak’s summer practices because the visiting players were talking up the Valley Christian program to Acorn players. Webb said he attended a Valley Christian football playoff game and “it was like a Morgan Hill PONY baseball reunion.”
Cummins said the problem isn’t just that student-athletes are leaving but that many of those who stay aren’t playing football.
“The numbers are definitely down,” Cummins said. “We have a lot of great athletes on campus who aren’t playing football for whatever reason. Part of that is due to the basketball team, which is doing very well while the football program is not.”
Ironically, the Live Oak football program will soon be facing an even more proximate threat, geographically, when Sobrato High opens in the fall and reduces the Acorn talent base even further. Sobrato is expected to field a junior varsity football team next season.
Meanwhile, the newly formed Tri-County Athletic League has turned into one of the most competitive in CCS at exactly the wrong time for Live Oak, which also plays a challenging non-league schedule — a byproduct of the more successful years.
Webb pointed out that the TCAL has regularly boasted several playoff teams, including Palma, Hollister and North Salinas last season.
“Even though we were 0-9-1, we were competitive,” Webb said. “We play in a very tough league. Our tie came against a league champion (Alisal). Could we have been 10-0? Sure we could. I’m confident we could have beaten three-quarters of the teams in our section if we played them But that’s not the case. We tried to compete against the teams we played and for the most part we did that.”
Even Dow admits that the TCAL is far tougher than the Monterey Bay League was when he coached at Live Oak.
“They’re in a terribly tough league,” Dow said. “When I coached, Palma wasn’t in the league, Hollister wasn’t as strong as they are now and then you have the Salinas teams — they’re better — and (Live Oak) played Oak Grove and some other real good teams, too.”
Webb also pointed to the program’s funding chall-enges as part of the problem. Traditionally, Webb said, the football program has received all concession proceeds at football games. But budget cuts have forced the Live Oak booster club to contribute a major portion of its fundraising, including concessions, to help pay coaches stipends.
According to Live Oak booster club president Pam Mom, the organization raised $25,000 to save a variety of the high school’s sports programs that were threatened by budget cuts. In addition, Mom said fundraising gets more challenging every year and the more expensive programs such as football are likely to feel the effects more acutely. Mom said traditional funding sources, such as school apparel sales, are down.
Webb said the football program was forced to dig out of a financial hole when he took over for Caanapu in 2000 and it has been a continuing struggle ever since.
Cummins confirmed that the program was “in the red” when Webb took over and that the coach “has done a good job bringing the program back in the black.”
Other issues the program has faced, according to Webb, include the football field debacle and the uncertainty regarding the freshman football team. Last season, the newly seeded football field was so torn up after the Acorns’ first home game that the Live Oak varsity, junior varsity and freshman teams had to go on the road for a “home” game against Alisal. And, budget cuts threatened to slash the freshman football team entirely.
“Those are all issues that have impacted Live Oak football,” Webb said. “Those are the battles I’m fighting on a number of fronts. We’re addressing those issues. I feel like I’m working really hard here.”
Despite the program’s struggles, Webb said he is pleasantly surprised by the amount of positive support he continues to receive.
“I’m actually kind of baffled,” Webb said. “I would have expected the barbarians to be at the gate but that hasn’t happened. Not one single person has come up to me and said you have to leave. I’ve had great support.”
Mom agreed.
“With all that’s going on with the district and the school and the football team’s struggles, I’ve been amazed at how much support there’s been,” she said. “There’s a certain amount of frustration when you have two losing seasons in a row but everyone’s been pertty supportive.”
Dow said he fully supports Webb and the rest of the coaching staff, many of which are holdovers from his staff.
“I can say that the staff there now coached with me and I know they work hard,” Dow said. “They’ve basically been in all the games. And, the (team’s) morale is surprisingly good in a situation like that. It’s not the coaching.”
But Dow, now 58, admits he gets asked almost daily about making a return to coaching at Live Oak, whether as an assistant, a consultant or even in the one position that has a little more input. And, Dow said he might eventually be interested in helping out.
For now, though, he said he has family respons-ibilities that keep him busy along with his duties as Live Oak’s Associated Student Body Director.
Webb said he knows the program must improve but he remains optimistic.
“I take full responsibility for our record,” Webb said. “We’re doing the same things (that Dow did) but the results are not the same. It’s a shame for (this year’s) group of seniors who didn’t get (a win). But every year is a new year with a new hope.”
