Whittier A.D./boys basketball coach Varos steps down

hey who cares!!!!!!

OMG (as the kids would say), if Varos wants a job at LS. Lowe will probably be at some college coaching by then.
Lowe would never have Varos near any of his players.
Unless a La Serna forward needs to learn to clear the lane with a good elbow.

Del Rio fan: Varos will not end up at La Serna!!! Not a chance!! That is not how WUHSD works. I know, Tony G. did it. I think his high school coaching is put on hold. With a "blink of an eye" his children will be graduating. And he probably wants to spend valuable time with them, before it is too late.

And why would he send his kids to Whittier when they grew up in East Whittier? Why? His kids are going to their neighborhood school. And La Serna is a pretty darn good academic school.

Yo, Del Rio Fan: Not sure where all of this is coming from. But leave the children out of these things. Varos is staying at Whittier, looking forward to the good life and enjoying his family. Sounds like a plan to me.

Does anyone know if the Varsity Basketball coach from santa fe will return? i believe it is his first year as a teacher at that school and with budgets cuts, just curious.

Whittier Alumni

jailed? Who are you == Hickey?

We all know why he is leaving. because this child will be attending La Serna High School. He needs to leave now so the slate is cleaned at Whittier so when an opening at La Serna is avaliable all he has to do is apply and good-bye to Whitter High School. Is Whittier High School not good enough for his kid, After all he still teaches here and gets paid for it.

whittier needs some experience at coaching the baskeball team.Bring back retired cards football coach don kelly as the new varsity basketball coach then you bring over the la serna baseball coach and it would be kinda like old times over at whittier. kelly and lopez. ha ha ha he he he

I had the oppurtunity to play for Coach Varros at Cantwell in the early 90's (yes in case you weren't aware Varros was an assistant at Cantwell in the early 90's). Coach Varros instilled discipline in his players, something kids today need dearly. Was he a hard a@#? Yes he was, did I like it at the time, of course not most 16 year olds wouldn't. Looking back at those years I am thankful for having a person like "Money Mike" around to teach us discipline, honor and respect. Coach Varros didn't always have the most talented or tallest players but we/they always gave 100%. We never quit on him beacause deep down inside we knew he was challenging us to be better people, not just in the game of Basketball, but in the game of life. Yes I know what some of you are going to say, respect and honor? Yes he taught us those things. Sometimes in life you need to stand up for yourself, Varros never taught us to be dirty but he did teach us if we got knocked down you get back up and don't get knocked down again. If you got hit don't get hit again interpret those principles however you like.

Allright; some people who respect Varos, as I do. He is far from perfect as we all are. But he is a good coach.

I have written positive comments on Varos, and others have reminded me a little more about the past.

Michael Hernandez as a Sophomore was a scoring machine. But all he did was shoot.

Then Varos came in as the coach and Michael Hernandez's scoring stayed about the same but his number of assists must have tripled or quadrupled. COACHING "TEAM" NOT INDIVIDUAL PLAY!!

yea he was a great teacher, of dirty basketball, good christian its all bull, the guy was just a plain a-hole, saw him play as a player, played like his kids dirty, good ridens, you know how they say don't let the door hit you in a?? on your way out

I have known Mike since we were kids running around the Macy and Barnes Gym. He is one of the good guys around the game. He is a disciplinarian who expects a lot from his players, coaches, and himself. Parents be carfeul what you wish for. He prepared his kids not only for their next game but life after basketball. His job was not to be liked by parents or even his players for that matter. His job was to prepare his players to be the best student-athlete possible. Mike, I have a lot of respect for you and your knowledge of the game of basketball. Stay strong buddy and remember that things always happen for a reason.

Oh Yea!! Coach Pittman. I wonder if he is interested. Very interesting. I wonder if he will "chance" the great reputation he has built and move to the boys.

If he wants it, they would have to hire him!!! But then again, it is Whittier High School and the Whittier Union H.S. District, and many times they "neglect" athletics or they will do as one or two parents wish them to do.

Great to see another Varos supporter. If you do not have a lot of experience and basically no size, you better play aggressive defense!

It was not Roger Murray or any other writer that perpetuated the negative bias about Varo's "Agressive Defense"......ask the players on his team at the time that received ejections for throwing elbows or pulling their opponents to the floor or better yet ask the other teams with the bloody and broken noses about how Varos Coached his LiL Angels !
Yes Varos was really a God Fearing individual.....or more like creative one, he knew how to curse out players,referees,opponents and parents better than the devil !...... Varos really set a good example for our youths, he averaged at least 3 Ejections every year.....sometimes even during summer league !
For the Varos Fan supporter you don't know what you're talking about......it's too bad you didn't hear him literally attack and threaten his players at half-time in the Varsity Room....they were definitely not singing hymns !
The only thing I have too say to you is Varos, in the name of religion, has pulled the wool over your eyes....just like Jimmy Swaggert did til he got caught !

The only thing we agree on is that Coach Pitman would make a Great Coach, the reason is because he's a Great Person !.....This should have happen 5 YEARS AGO !!!!

Wow its amazing how so many people jump up to criticize a coach, especially one that was so great to the community of whittier, now i personally believe if one does not know how the program works and how the system is run they should say nothing, whittier is losing the best basketball coach that has ever come across and i feel they should be blessed by this but people at whittier dont know what kind of person they have on hand. People who don't know coach varos on a personal level are quick to say hes mean and rude and teaches his players to be dirty, well the people who say this obviously pretend to know basketball but they have no idea. When coach varos came to whititer 8 years ago he had literally the same team intact as the year before, his first year at whittier he won coach of the year and COACHED his team a league title and into the playoffs farther than any other team had gone, ( yes farther than La Serna and any other team in del rio), as a first year coach with the same team as the previous year it seems to me like the new coach( varos) turned the program around and steered them in the right direction. His second year went undefeated in league with a relentless never give up on defense style nothing dirty about teaching players to play hard and never quit. This group went deep into the playoffs again and lost a close game to compton dominguez in their house. FOR THE PEOPLE WHO DONT KNOW MR. VAROS I SUGGEST YOU READ THE BOOK BEFORE YOU JUDGE THE COVER. THIS IS A GREAT LOSS ON WHITTIER'S BEHALF AND IS A COMPLETE MISTAKE!!!!!!

TO CARDINAL FAN AND DEL RIO FAN-

I'm guessing u were either a coach that got smashed on by whittier..maybe you didn't get the job as coach for whittier..or maybe you just don't have a life other than talking trash about someone on a local newspaper website that you swear that everyone looks at..let me tell you one thing..Varos didn't teach players to "throw elbows" or "play dirty"..trust me I would know because I played for him..He taught us how to be respectable men and that hard work pays off..basketball wise he stood out because he taught us to be fundamentally sound since most of us couldn't rely on athleticism and he also taught us to be strong and physical on defense..to NEVER LET UP..TO PLAY UNTIL THE WHISTLE BLOWS..He's an outstanding person and I am really happy for him to be able to spend more time with his family...

LaPioRanchoCaliFe WHO?!?!?!?!!!!!!!

Whittier High Skooooo!!!!
We love you varos ur like a big brother to us!

Wow are you people live in a fantasy world? Coach Michael varos a true Christian and wonderful individual. Whittier needs real coaching. Coaches that will bring rings and hoopla. Bring a coach from a private school. Ok a guy from pioneer who no body knows and maybe he is a security person at whittier? Just look at some of the coaches from ST Paul. you will do much better!!with one of them, right now the time is right.

Coach Michael Varos is a wonderful individual, true Christian and a very good coach/teacher. He rarely got the basketball athletes and his teams usually lacked the height advantage. Most of the NJB players ended up at La Serna or Cal so the experience level of his players were limited. He played a 'press' defense to adjust for the skill level of his players. I think other coaches didn't like this aggressiveness and writers like Roger Murray exacerbated this negative bias by using the "aggressive defense" terminology in a derogatory manner towards Whittier High's style of play.

He seemed to be very professional in his approach with his players; 'stern and steady'. I saw a few practices and I didn't see any yelling and screaming; more teaching. Again, it's only what I saw.

He did an outstanding job in running an annual clinic for the coaches of Whittier Area Community Church's Youth Basketball League; teaching basketball fundamentals and philosophy. I believe he also runs a coaches clinic for the YMCA league.

He supported and contributed his time to the 'Say Yes' Sports Camp of Whittier Area Comm. Church. This camp buses in 100 homeless children from downtown Los Angeles to the Whittier High campus and provides instructions in baseball, soccer and basketball. You wouldn't call Coach Varos 'aggressive' if you saw him laughing and doing the 'Chicken Dance' with these homeless kids. Or laying in the dirt as part of a dance routine. He didn't look like such a bad guy to me.

The bottom line is that he didn't get as many experienced players but he developed them to remain competitive.

It's tough to see good coaches leave the sidelines, especially when some of the remaining ones are more concerned with their own success than the players.
Some are non-credentialed as teachers, chew/dip tobacco on campus (whatever happened to zero tolerance), yell and berate players, allow/encourage illegal transfers on the team, etc.

Good luck, Coach Varos! I also hope Coach Willie (from the girls team) succeeds you as the boys coach.

The guy from Pioneer will probably move over to Whittier. Isn't he a security person at Whittier?

to sports observor- what does it say about Varos when every other coach in the league dispised him? it was his total lack of sportsmanship and teaching of dirty cheapshot basketball.- Whittier should have fired him years ago- maybe they can get a coach that will actually run a program that will be respected.

Coach V,

Wow he had a great run. I'm sadden by the news. For those who don"t know him on a personal level all i could say is what a class act. Great man and he truly know's the game respect's it and loves it.

Thank's for all the good memories and all the help along the way coach. Whittier lost a great coach.....

Come on Roger why don't U tell it like it is......Varos was tarred & feathered and run out of town !
He should be jailed for all of the abuse over the years on his players and opposing teams.......U teach your players the fundamentals of the game and life.....not grabbing jerseys with ur off hand and swinging ELBOWS !

Anybody can go far if they have the TALENT.....that is what a Coach's job is......especially at the high school level, it's about developing his players into good people and athletes......Varos has had stellar talent ......2 perennial 1st team All League and All-Area players playing at the same time and he still couldn't do anything but tear the team apart, that same year his team placed more players on All-League, 6 players than any other team and they only finished in 3rd !
Look at La Serna, the perennial DelRio League Basketball Champions......even in the year WHS was picked as the preseason All-Area Favorite ! It's all about GOOD coaching !
Look at Varo's quote in today's Daily News, he states he never expected more from them than I asked of MYSELF !!! ......he still doesn't get it.....it's not about VAROS it's about his PLAYERS and their WELFARE !

GOOD RIDDANCE to Varos !

Wow who will take his place?

I realize that by these blogs Varos has a few people who do not appreciate him.

But as I said before, I predict the program, statistic wise, will drop in success.

I think he knows what he is doing, and when he had talent he went as far or further in the playoffs than any other Del Rio League team.