Former San Marino/Temple City coach Mike Mooney enters not guilty plea last Thursday …

Former San Marino football coach Mike Mooney, accused of embezzling $21,000 from school booster clubs, pleaded not guilty Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Mooney, 41, is charged with grand theft, according to a Nov. 22 felony complaint against him.

Mooney became head coach in 2010 but resigned later in the year after being placed on administrative leave. He also served as head coach at Temple City, his alma mater prior to becoming an administrator/coach at San Marino.

Mooney played football at USC following a successful prep career at Temple City.

School officials also suspended Mooney from his position as assistant principal in charge of discipline and attendance.

The alleged theft took place between October 2008 and October 2010.

Mooney is due back in Los Angeles Superior Court for a hearing Jan. 17, court officials said.

Aram’s take:
In late November both the San Marino Tribune, citing nobody, and Mid Valley Sports, citing the San Marino Tribune, reported that Mooney would enter a plea deal and “plead guilty to one count of Felony-Grand Theft in regards to charges involving the San Marino Football program in 2010.” Nice reporting on both ends. The Pasadena Star-News contacted Mooney’s attorney who said Mooney would appear in court on Dec. 15, which he did and plead not guilty, thus soiling both reports. You gotta be careful where you get your news and what their agendas might be and who is feeding them the info. Which is why I said on that week’s PrepXtra Live that I would not be using the San Marino Tribune as a source for anything. This type of shoddy reporting is a problem these days because of the glut of blogs and websites and weekly papers who often have no clue about journalism or when to hit “submit” and when not to.

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IMPORTANT DATES: It’s going to be a busy offseason

Dec. 24: Christmas Eve … and the All-Area teams are tentatively scheduled to be on the back page of your local SGV(N) editions.

Early Jan.:
The second semester begins which means there COULD be quite a few check-ins and check-outs (transfers) to talk about.

Feb. 1: National Signing Day

Early March: Letter of intent days for private schools. I like what the Times’ Eric Sondheimer said about this … All those open houses and the shadowing of students will either pay off or leave some coaches in panic mode. So true.

March 9: CIF-SS announces revised playoff groupings

Aug. 17: Scrimmages begin.

Aug. 24: Week 0 games begin

Aug. 31: Week 1

Nov. 30: Southern Section division championships

Dec. 7: Regional playoffs

Dec. 14-15: State bowl games

Aram’s take:
Obviously, between March and August there will be a slew of other things like spring passing games, summer passing games/tournaments, the Hall of Fame All-Star Game. What strikes me and should strike you is how EARLY everything begins. Aug. 24 is Week 0 GAMES! I’m wondering if this means that tourneys like the Bonita Air Assault and SGV Shootout will be moved up. There are a lot of coaches resistant to starting anything earlier than they did it back in 1985, but times are changing and nobody will be able to avoid starting earlier than they did in the past. This also means that ALL YOU COACHES WHO KNOW YOU’RE GOING TO RESIGN need to do us all a favor and do it right when we come back from Christmas break. Yes, I said Christmas break.

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Information from the L.A. Times was used in this posting.

Congrats to the SGVN BOWLERS!!! Utah St.’s Matty Austin (Charter Oak) and Chris Harris (Duarte), Ohio’s Joe Morales (So. El Monte), San Diego St.’s Ronnie Hillman (La Habra), Adam Muema (CO), Colin Lockett (D-Bar), Chads Young and Jeffries (Glendora) …

Who says the minor bowls aren’t awesome? You’re clueless. Utah St.-Ohio was a great finish.

Much love goes out to our SGV(N) bowlers … nothing like seeing the locals in the bowl games.

All the guys I named above are former SGV(N) All-Area selections. Be proud of our kids!

Aram’s take: If I missed anyone, lemme know. And props go out to Arroyo girls hoops coach Mike Gorball, who told me Ronnie Hillman is a La Habra dude … and insisted he was when I said “no way”. Hey, I wasn’t covering these parts in ’08!

Follow me on Twitter @ChemicalAT