Welch to Seek Court Order to Regain Coaching Job : Prep football: Suspended Canyon coach names school, district and Southern Section in effort to get temporary ruling.

Harry Welch, who is serving a 5 1/2-month suspension from coaching, will seek a temporary restraining order in San Fernando Superior Court today in an attempt to regain his job as the Canyon High football coach.

Welch will ask the court to stay his suspension and reinstate him as the Canyon coach, a job he could resume immediately if the court so decides. Regardless of today’s ruling, Welch may next seek a preliminary restraining order.

Should Welch win a preliminary restraining order, the court would establish a hearing date to decide his case, but that hearing might not take place until well after the 1991 football season. Welch would be able to coach until the hearing.

The suit cites Canyon High and the William S. Hart Union High School District, but Welch said his case centers on the Southern Section and its commissioner, Stan Thomas, who are also named in the complaint.

Canyon and the school district suspended Welch after Thomas recommended the penalty and the section’s executive committee endorsed it last month. Welch has been accused of conducting an off-season practice in violation of Southern Section rules.

“The case is in no way directed against Canyon High or the school district,” Welch said. “Because of the Southern Section action, we had to name them.”

The Southern Section will be represented at the hearing but not by Thomas.

Clyde Smyth, superintendent of the Hart district, holds no grudge against Welch for litigating against the district but said he must defend the district against attacks.

“Mr. Welch has told us that he does not want to sue the district,” Smyth said. “But I want to say three things about the litigation. It is not personal, the district has made no attempt to dissuade Mr. Welch from exercising his constitutional right, and the school district will defend itself vigorously.”

Meanwhile, the Canyon coaching job remains open. Assistant coaches Enrique Lopez and Brian Stiman have been running the team on an interim basis since Welch began his suspension July 16. White offered the job to both assistants, but each has turned it down, raising doubts about Welch’s future with the program.

White has declined to discuss specifics about Welch’s return, saying only that the “door is open” and Welch can “reapply” in January.

Welch has asked for a written assurance that he will retain his job when his suspension ends Dec. 31, adding that he would drop his pursuit of an injunction in exchange for a written guarantee. White and the school district have denied that request.

“There is no understanding right now about the end of the season,” Smyth said. “There is no link between whether Harry litigates and a written assurance. They are mutually exclusive.”

Welch said he fears for his future with the Canyon program, saying the suspension could become a de facto termination if he is not rehired in January, another reason behind his decision to seek legal redress.

“Is this a termination notice under the guise of a suspension notice?” he said. “After a suspension, the situation should return in good order, and those are not the indications I’m receiving.

“I want to come back and coach at Canyon. If I don’t (seek this injunction), I may regret for the rest of my life that I didn’t do all I could to help the kids at Canyon and look after my best interests.”