Recently in Harold Strauss Category

Colton athletic director Harold Strauss, who won 229 games in a storied high school career at Colton, Bloomington Christian and in Oregon, will be inducted into the Southern California High School Coaches Hall of Fame this weekend and honored at a banquet on Sunday.

Strauss is the second Inland Empire coaching legend to receive this honor in as many years, as former Fontana and Kaiser coach Dick Bruich received the honor last year. Bruich will be one of the keynote speakers at Sunday's banquet.

After nearly six months of waiting, redrafting job ads and indecision, Colton High School decided that it was best to not mess with a good thing.

The Yellowjackets selected from within the Colton football family to replace Harold Strauss Thursday, as it hired longtime assistant coach Rick Bray. Bray, who has been an assistant at Colton for 21 of the past 25 years, including the entirety of Strauss' tenure, was approved at Thursday's Colton Unified School District school board meeting.

The Colton football coaching search saga has taken another turn, as the Colton Unified School district reposted the ad for the position last week.

One of the applicants for the position, which closes Friday, is former coach and current athletic director Harold Strauss. Strauss, who has 229 victories in his high-school coaching career, would seem like the no-brainer choice, but he isn't quite sure that's the case.

"I pulled the trigger and came to terms with not coaching again and being the full-time athletic director, so we'll see what happens," Strauss said. "If I'm the coach, I'll go out there and give it my all, but we'll see how everything plays out."

Strauss, who coached the Yellowjackets, indicated that interviews would be held next week and that the target date for a new hire is May 17, the first day of spring practice for Colton.

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.

Harold Strauss might not be done as football coach at Colton High School after all.

Strauss, who retired this past season to take on full-time duties as athletic director, is thinking seriously about throwing his hat back in the ring as football coach after issues arose in the hiring of his successor.

"We had 21 applicants, but we just laid off 141 teachers as a school district," Strauss said. "It's hard to hire a coach to a teaching position and justify it with that going on. It just might not be the right time to leave this position."

The Colton Unified School District is redrafting the ad for the position. Depending on the verbiage of the position, Strauss said he's "70-30" in favor of reapplying.

"I think I would have to reapply because the job has already been flown, but I don't know for sure," Strauss said. "Depending on what the school district releases, I'm interested in coming back. The new school opens in the fall of 2011 and when that happens, teaching jobs will come back and hopefully that will make things easier. But it might be a situation where an extra year or two is necessary."

While talking to Colton athletic director Harold Strauss about Alejandro Maldonado's switch from Washington to Oregon, the retired coach mentioned to me that the open football head coaching job has been opened up. Strauss indicated that the position would be open to all applicants from now though the end of next week.

"We wanted to open it up 10 days and take what we have at that point, interview, and make our decision," Strauss said. "From talking to people in the area, there's interest in this job and we are pretty confident we'll find someone during that time period."

Strauss did float the name of Scott Pearne - who resigned at Riverside North after the season and who coached at Yucaipa from 2005-07 - as someone who has expressed interest in the position. Strauss retired in November after 10 seasons with the Yellowjackets and 229 career wins.

The retired coach isn't totally ducking out of the football life. After attending Colton's National Signing Day story Wednesday morning, Strauss will be flying to New Orleans, where he'll be speaking at the Double Wing Football Coaches Association's annual convention.

Strauss will be in New Orleans until Monday, making his first-ever visit to the city a sizable one.

"I've been told that I need to go see Bourbon Street," Strauss said. "I'm looking forward to the trip. With the Saints being in the Super Bowl, I'm expecting the city to be pretty lively."

First of all, I apologize for the extended break between posts. Between vacations and the general slow nature of the summer, I haven't been on here in a while. But with football season coming up, I plan to make up for that a bit with some team previews.

I'll first start off with Colton because, quite frankly, Harold Strauss was the first coach I was able to get in contact with today. Strauss, as you guys probably know by now, will be coaching his final season with the Yellowjackets, as he has been named to replace David Drake as Colton's athletic director.