April 2010 Archives

Don Markham's second stint as Rialto High School football coach ended before he coached a game, as the veteran coach resigned Thursday in the wake of an investigation by the Rialto Unified School District on allegations of misconduct by the coach.

Markham delivered the resignation to Rialto athletic director Dan Williams Thursday morning at the prompting of Williams and Rialto principal Andreas Luna. Markham, who has won 309 games and five CIF titles in an illustrious career, tried to rescind the resignation later in the day but was told that it was final.

Ryan Clady, the All-Pro third-year offensive tackle for the Denver Broncos and Eisenhower High School graduate, underwent surgery to repair an injured left patellar tendon he suffered while playing pickup basketball and will be out three months according to this story by the Denver Post.

Clady, who was selected with the No. 12 pick by the Broncos in 2008, graduated from Eisenhower in 2004 and was inducted into Ike's initial Hall of Fame class this past October along with seven other Ike alums, including Hall of Fame safety Ronnie Lott.

Recently hired Rialto High School football coach Don Markham has been placed on administrative leave by the Rialto Unified School District after allegations were levied against him according to RUSD Director of Communications Syeda Jafri.

Jafri indicated that Markham, who has won 309 games and five CIF championships in his illustrious high school coaching career, was suspended Tuesday after the allegations were filed to the school district's offices.

"Mr. Markham has been placed on administrative leave pending the results of the upcoming investigation by the school district," Jafri said. "We take all allegations seriously and we believe in due process for both the accuser and accused."

Jafri didn't specify on the length of the investigation or the nature of the allegations, but did say that Markham was prohibited from stepping foot on the Rialto campus during the investigation. Because Markham is a walk-on coach employed within the Colton Unified School District, his leave will be of the unpaid variety according to Jafri.

"(Markham) is a walk-on coach until July 1, so that makes the administrative leave unpaid instead of paid," Jafri said.

Markham's leave comes at a bad time for Rialto, as spring football is set to start next month.

The Yucaipa-Calimesa Unified School District approved the hire of former Granite Hills head football coach Justin Price to coach the Yucaipa High School football team Tuesday.

Price, who led Granite Hills to a school-record six victories this past season, interviewed for the job Friday and was offered the job Monday, which he accepted in a heartbeat.

"I'm very excited about continuing the tradition at Yucaipa High School," said Price, who was 8-12 in two seasons with the Cougars. "With all the new high schools in California, its rare to find a one-high school town like Yucaipa has. I'm looking forward to working with the players, the parents and the whole community."

Price was a late-comer to the job, which has been advertised since John Hallenbeck was removed in early February. In fact, he drove down to Yucaipa the day before the ad for the job closed after receiving a layoff notice from his special ed teaching job at Granite Hills.

"I was reading blogs on the internet and saw that the Yucaipa job was still open," Price said. "I thought it was a great opportunity, so I drove down there, handed them my resume and interviewed this past Friday. I felt that there wasn't much importance being placed on keeping me around (at Granite Hills) and wanted to go somewhere where the high school football coach was valued."

Yucaipa High School also had a job opening for a special education teacher, which is what Price teaches. With that solved, it was a pretty easy decision for Yucaipa athletic director Mark Anderson.

"I like the attitude and the presence that Justin brings," Anderson said. "He's a good young coach who is eager to come in and be part of this community. I thought he was the right fit right away and once I knew that we had a teaching job open for him, it was an easy decision."

Price and the Thunderbirds, who went 5-5 this past season to finish fifth in the Citrus Belt League after three consecutive playoff appearances, will start spring practice next month.

Several county schools will be honored at Dodger Stadium next Thursday, as the CIF-Southern Section announced the winners of 28th Annual Kenny Fagans Toyota Shake for Sportsmanship Awards Monday.

Boys Republic (Arrowhead League), Arrowhead Christian (Christian), Apple Valley (Mojave River), Ontario (Mt. Baldy), Cajon (San Andreas) and Bloomington (Sunkist) will be honored for their sportsmanship at the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Cajon athletic director Rich Imbriani was awarded the California State Athletic Directors Association athletic director of the year last week and will be honored at a ceremony in Reno, Nevada Saturday.

Imbriani follows Summit athletic director Ed Kearby, who won the honor a year ago. The CSADA will also honor Arroyo Valley athletic director Matt Howell and Chino athletic director Matt McCain with the Norm MacKenzie "Rookie" Directors of the Year award, which goes to exemplary young ADs.

Eight San Bernardino County players make up the list of CIF-SS All-Stars who will face off against the L.A. City Section All-Stars on Saturday April 24 at 5 p.m. at El Camino College.

Making the team are Etiwanda center Jasmine Bernard, Colony forward Te'onna Campbell, Ayala forward Rhema Gardner, Ayala guard Ariel Marsh, Miller forward Cassandra Mitchell, Chino Hills guard Ericka Norman, Summit guard and All-Sun Player of the Year Adrienne Thomas and Miller guard Chloe Wells. Wells and Mitchell did not play this year, as they were forced to sit out due to CIF-SS transfer rules.

Just received a call from Eisenhower softball highlighting their 2-1 victory over Redlands this afternoon, the Terriers' first loss in the Citrus Belt League in nearly four years. Sarah Pineda pitched a five-strikeout, five-hit complete game for the Eagles while April Fultz's two-run second-inning double drove in both runs for Eagles (8-8 overall, 3-2 league). Ike hadn't beaten the Redlands since the 2005 season.

Redlands' last loss in league came on May 3, 2007, when the Terriers lost 1-0 at Yucaipa. Redlands (12-4, 4-1) will host Yucaipa, which is now all of a sudden in first place, at 3:15 p.m. Friday.

Galaxy star Landon Donovan is coming back to his hometown of Redlands Monday, as he will be filming a segment for ESPN's "Homecoming" in the gym at Redlands East Valley High School at 7 p.m. with ESPN writer Rick Reilly.

"It's wonderful for the school and the community," REV athletic director Rhonda Fouch said. "We are excited to have our prodigal son return and we consider him our own illustrious alumni."

An assembly involving REV students and Redlands community members will be held alongside the filming for Donovan, a 2000 graduate, with the REV boys and girls soccer teams and cheerleaders to be present in full uniform. It's an event that was several months in the making according to REV assistant principal Dale Whitehurst, the point man on the project.

"We started talking with ESPN about it in mid-January and set the date in late-February, early March," Whitehurst said. "There was some hesistance about setting a date because there were MLS labor issues and we weren't sure if Landon would end up staying in England and play over there, but we are extremely excited to have this at our school."

Fans interested in attending Monday's assembly can contact ESPN via e-mail at espnevents@onsetproductions.com or go to onsetproductions.com and click on the "ESPN Homecoming" icon.

Not that it's much of a shock, but LaTrina Duncan was officially named the permanent head girls basketball coach at Summit High School yesterday according to a text I received from her this morning. This was pretty much assumed to be Summit's course of action once Alexis Barile - who went on maternity leave in January - said that she wasn't going to reassume the position, but it's finally official.

Duncan, the all-Sun girls basketball coach of the year, was an assistant under Chris Stephens at Chaffey College and Los Osos High School prior to taking a job as Summit's JV coach this past offseason. She took over the SkyHawks on January 7 when Barile went into labor with twins 10 weeks premature and led Summit to a Sunkist League championship, the Division 1-A finals and the Division I SoCal regional semifinals.

The honors for presumably-retired Colton football coach Harold Strauss continue to pile up, as the legendary coach will be one of six to be honored by San Bernardino County Superintendent's Office with an Education Medal of Honor for Distinguished Service Award at a ceremony on April 26 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Victorville.

"Considering that there are 20,000 people who are probably worthy of this honor, it's humbling to hear my name called," Strauss said. "I was humbled when (the Colton Unified School District) nominated me and I'm humbled right now."

Strauss is being honored for his postgraduate contributions in education and coaching at a banquet that starts at 6 p.m. The entry fee to the black-tie event - which includes a meal - is $45 and you can call (909) 386-2947 for information.

Eisenhower boys basketball player Alex Varner and former Colony boys basketball player Tyler Lamb will be honored Friday by the John R. Wooden Award Comittee, as they won the Wooden Awards for Division 2 and Division I respectively.

Varner, the D2 winner, and Lamb, the D1 winner, will be honored at a banquet at the Los Angeles Athletic Club alongside the men's and women's college basketball players of the year. They will also receive a plaque and $300 to go to their school's athletic fund.

The Yucaipa High School head football coaching position, which opened up in early February when John Hallenbeck was removed, is inching closer to being filled.

Thunderbirds athletic director Mark Anderson indicated that a series of interviews will be held April 23, with a possible recommendation coming from them.

"We have been patient with the process to make sure that we get the best possible candidates," Anderson said. "We'll sit down April 23 and see where we are at."

Yucaipa also is looking for a new girls basketball coach, as Anna Collins stepped down following the season. Collins, a newlywed, was teaching in Grand Terrace and the commute to Yucaipa was too much according to Anderson.

Things have been busy at Sultana High School lately, as the school recently hired longtime assistant coach Blake Robbins as head football coach to replace Zane Sweeney while seeing two-time defending CIF champion girls soccer coach Daniel Polmounter step down.

Robbins has most recently served as a defensive coordinator for the Sultans, who have a 21-game losing streak dating back to 2007. Robbins has seen success at Sultana, as he was an assistant on the 2005 Mojave River League championship team. He was hired three weeks ago according to a conversation we had yesterday.

Polmounter, fresh off a second-straight CIF-SS Division 4 title, stepped down to spend more time with his wife Stephanie and two children, 2-year old Bryant and 2-month old Camryn. Along with serving as an assistant coach on the football team and a baseball umpire, it got to be too much for the former Eisenhower kicker.

"I love coaching soccer and coaching these girls, but it didn't leave time for my family," Polmounter said. "I didn't see how I could continue coaching and still be there as a husband and father. It got to be too much."

A little outside of our coverage area, but with as much as we talk about high school athletes and football recruiting, I think this story was worth mentioning. Matt James, a highly-recruited offensive lineman from Cincinnati, Ohio who signed with Notre Dame in February, died Friday after falling off a balcony while on spring break in Panama City, FL. James was a week shy of his 18th birthday. The story on the incident can be read here.

The inaugural East/West all-star girls basketball game, to be held April 23 at 6:30 p.m. at Whittier College, has a pretty substantial local flavor, as five county players have been added to the East's roster. San Bernardino guard Jasmine Ray, Summit guard Adrienne Thomas, Alta Loma forward Sylvia Shepherd, Colony guard Te'onna Campbell and Upland Christian forward Destinee Duncan are all scheduled to play as of now. The website highlighting the event can be accessed here.