I wanted to touch on this local high school football story. Santa Margarita Catholic High School, a private high school here in Southern California, has hired Harry Welch to head up their football program. This is a program that has been down in recent years under the leadership of former head coach Mike Jacot (38-38 over the last 7 years) but has the facilities and recruiting acumen to quickly rise back to national prominence.
The Eagles have had several standout players come through their program such as Carson Palmer (QB Cincinnati Bengals), Brian Finneran (WR Atlanta Falcons) and Kris Farris (OL with UCLA and the Buffalo Bills). This program was once thought to field some of the best teams in the country and they could be back there in a hurry.
With Welch, they're getting a coach who's won 8 Southern Section Championships including 3 straight with St. Margarets. He's the only coach in the state to ever win state titles at two different schools. He's spent 36 years compiling a record of 222-49-2, which includes a 46-game winning streak, a Division 1 CIF State Football Championship in 2006 and a second CIF state championship in 2008 in the Small School Division. In 2007, he was named Coach of the Year by the California Coaches Association, an organization that includes high school, college and NFL coaches. In 2009, The Orange County Review named Welch Coach of the Year. The Los Angeles Daily News recently selected Welch as the football coach of the decade.
I think this is a great hire and fully expect the Eagles to be back on top if not next year, then the following year. Along with hiring Welch, they also have a 39,000 square foot state of the art fitness center/weight room scheduled to open in March.
Bill
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