BREAKING NEWS: La Cañada football's Wheeler resigns
(Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Times)
According to the Los Angeles Times' high school blog, La Cañada football coach Rich Wheeler resigned. The Los Angeles Times notes a school press release as its source. It should be noted I never received the press released and have made repeated calls to La Cañada athletic director Tamar Hill as well as Rich Wheeler. (I will see Tamar Hill later tonight when I cover La Cañada at Monrovia at 5:30 p.m.)
Wheeler's resignation follows a 12-year run that included eight playoff appearances and two Rio Hondo League titles, according to the press release received by The Times.
Wheeler compiled a 67-61-5 record with La Cañada and helped guide the Spartans to three divisional quarterfinal appearances in addition to winning league titles in 2000 and 2004. This past fall, La Cañada missed the playoffs after posting a 4-5-1 record.
Wheeler will continue to teach physical education at the high school.
Does Rich Wheeler's resignation as La Cañada football coach come as a surprise? Vote below and elaborate in the comment field. This means there are three (Pasadena, Temple City and now La Cañada) openings for football coach in the WSGV. In case anyone cares, there's also an opening for a head coach at Glendale High School. This comes from the Glendale News-Press. This can't be a good trend for the WSGV, can it?
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Melendez worked as a correspondent for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune for three years and later landed a job as a freelance writer at the Los Angeles Times before accepting an offer at The Orange County Register covering high schools. Melendez covered Major League Soccer at The Register for three years before being promoted to report on the Lakers, Angels and Dodgers for the Web. Melendez also worked for the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Fresno Bee, Oakland Tribune and The Boston Globe. E-mail opinions, suggestions and tips to miguel.melendez@sgvn.com. |
Good read. A good quick read.
Seems like i cant subscribe to your rss feed. i am using juice by the way. you may want to look into this. thanks!
So four Rio Hondo head football coaches (Garrison, Sanders, Backus, Wheeler) have turned over within one calendar year. Amazing. If you count Mooney, you have 5 head coaches (four teams) in 18 months.
I'm as surprised as anyone. I had heard that 2009 would be his last year, that 2008 would be his last year, that maybe 2011 would be his last year.
With there being this many openings in the WSGV. We'll now be able to see the priorities of each school. Some applicants might apply at all three. Prospective coaches now have choices. They can go for a school with a lot of talent or one with high academic standards or even one with a heavily supported community base. This is going to be interesting. Principals and AD's need to start doing their homework. Their decisions are going to be monitored by a few people calling into question their ability to do their job.
Matt,
Obviously, this is a coach you have never felt was the right guy. I don't know enough about Wheeler to comment, so I won't.
What I do know is that LC has a very good stable of seniors to be - returning for the 2009 season.
LC closed out 2008 strong and got better week by week. The loss to M-town and tie with TC easily could have been W's for the Spartans. I guess the fact they were not W's has got to be frustrating though.
Was Wheeler nudged or pushed out or was he just ready to bail? Did anyone from LC expect this? Internal candidates exist or no?
Maybe they will hire a coach who has knowledge of the game and a passion for football.