Chaffey College football hire not a surprise

Carl Beach’s tenure as football coach at Chaffey College is officially over. He is going to stay on as athletic director, with the interim label he had the last three years being lifted.

Ron Hadaway, Beach’s right-hand man since he arrived in 1996, has been named the successor. His appointment was the worst-kept secret in the Inland Empire. Most knew the torch would eventually be passed to him.

It’s a good decision for the future of the football program and the athletic department as a whole. The transition to Hadaway should be a smooth one. He was handling many of the day-to-day coaching chores anyway with Beach having to tend to the department. Hadaway knows the staff and the athletes already in place and is familiar with the landscape of the Inland Empire.

It is surprising the school didn’t officially make the move sooner. It is one thing for a coach to handle that job simultaneously for a year but Beach has done it for three. It should not be a surprise that the Panthers showing on the football field has slipped in recent years. The Panthers were 2-8 in 2012 despite playing a lesser schedule than in previous years.

Handling any sport while being an athletic director is an unenviable task. When it’s a sport such as football where you’re dealing with such a large number of athletes, it’s almost impossible.

Beach, 63, has four decades of coaching behind him, he shouldn’t have to put in 12-hour days six days a week.

I’ll miss quizzing him each week as to whose injured, what position changes is he is making and what he thinks of the upcoming opponent. But he’ll still be around and that’s a good thing!

 

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