Disenchanted Fix Leaves Canyon Team : Lineman Says Coaches Took Fun From Game

All-Valley defensive lineman Justin Fix has quit the Canyon High football team, the sixth front-line player in the past three years to say bon voyage to the demanding, shape-up-or-ship-out program of Coach Harry Welch.

The 6-foot, 4-inch, 235-pound Fix is regarded by college recruiters as the best defensive lineman in the Valley area. He walked off the practice field two weeks ago, and, after a meeting with his father and Welch, decided against returning, apparently casting overboard an almost assured Division I college scholarship.

“Right now,” Fix said, “football is the furthest thing from my mind.”

Fix said his decision, which he had been contemplating “for some time,” stemmed from a growing disenchantment with football. Simply put, he felt that Welch and his assistants had become too demanding.

“They were pushing it a little so that it wasn’t fun anymore,” said Fix, a two-year starter. “It’s not that I can’t take it because I took it last year. When you play Cowboy football . . . it just got to where my body was grinding down a bit.

“I just want to look at other things. It got to the point where I thought football was closing my mind.

“I know that’s kind of an ignorant thing to say because football can open a lot of doors for you.”

Welch said that many doors already were open to Fix, whom he said was the Cowboys’ best Division I prospect in his seven years as coach. “I have a stack on my desk of 20 different recruiting letters,” Welch said, adding that “everybody” is interested in Fix. “USC, UCLA, Iowa, Oklahoma, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Florida.”

But Fix, Welch said, simply was not committed.

“My gut feeling is that he doesn’t want to work in the classroom or the athletic field,” Welch said. “There is nothing about discipline, sacrifice and hard work that appeals to him.”

All three traits typify Canyon’s intense program under Welch, whose coaching methods have drawn fire from parents and community members. Canyon’s practices are physically intense and punctuated with verbal assaults by coaches, who frequently grab players’ face masks in an attempt to motivate.

Last season, running backs Cam Cross and Chris Peery quit the team early in the season. Peery returned, but Cross sat out the season. After the season, Peery quit again but returned this summer with renewed commitment.

Before the 1986 season, tailback Lance Cross, Cam’s brother, quit but later returned. Before the same season, offensive lineman Jay Maltzman and tight end Travis Regnolds both all-league selections the previous year--decided to forgo football.

Despite criticism, Welch steadfastly defends his approach. He has compiled a 70-10 record at Canyon and has led the Cowboys to five Golden League and three Southern Section titles. Canyon also posted a 46-game winning streak from 1983-86, tying a Southern Section record.

“I wish I were all things to all people, but I’m not,” Welch said. “I’d love to have all the talented kids in the world. Every time a fourth-string player leaves the team, it bothers me.

“Nevertheless, I won’t ever sacrifice the way I handle things. I will push hard. He didn’t wish to be pushed, and I don’t think that’s very admirable.”

Welch’s offensive line coach agrees.

Said Brian Stiman: “It happens all the time in high school. But because our program is so demanding, sometimes you lose kids.”

Fix objects to claims that he lacked effort. “I don’t know how they can say that,” he said. “I think they’re great guys off the field, but on the field they don’t know where to stop.”

As was his policy with Peery and the Cross brothers, the door is open for Fix to return, Welch said. “But I don’t have any feeling that he is going to,” he said.

Last week, Welch tried to persuade Fix to reconsider. Fix refused.

“We met for two hours,” Welch said. “It was ‘Goodby, good luck, have a nice life.’ There’s no animosity, no negativism. He just doesn’t want it.”

Fix’s mother Susan said she originally was “shocked” by her son’s decision but has since accepted it.

“At first, we had a big blowout,” she said. “We were going to take his truck away. But I’m the one who nursed his big old lumps. I’ve seen what these guys go through. I told Justin he has to be into it 100% or he can’t do it. It’s a decision he has to make.

“But I certainly think he will regret it.”

Fix would not rule out returning but said it is unlikely.

“I can’t go back unless I’m really ready to knock some heads around, and I’m just not into it,” he said.