Beaumont football coach James resigns

Beaumont High School football coach Chet James has resigned, Cougars athletic director Wayne Hackney told the Prep-dog today.

The position is now open and Hackney said the school district has received "four or five" applicants.

"We're looking for someone to turn the program around," Hackney said. "We haven't had a lot of wins the past three seasons."

Beaumont has gone 2-8 in each of the last three seasons, including two under James, who succeeded Gary Harvey.

James, 60, said he told his team prior to its last game that he would be retiring from coaching, although he didn't make it official until later.

"I told them I was going to graduate with them," said James, a Beaumont graduate. "I'd also like to spend more time with my family. My son (Ian) is 16 and I didn't get to see him play any of his games because he was on the JV team."

James has also coached in Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado and was an assistant superintendent in Palo Alto, in the San Francisco Bay Area.

He formerly coached softball and basketball at Beaumont, taking the basketball team to the playoffs two consecutive years, including a trip to the quarterfinals his last season. In softball, he coached the Cougars to a championship.

He will continue to teach at Beaumont.

Beaumont is a school of 2,100 students that is expected to grow by 100 by the fall, due to a large freshman class and general growth in the area, Hackney said. The school competes in the Mountain Pass League.

- John Murphy
berdooman@aol.com