Simco wise beyond years

Rick Devereux

When Jason Simco was a senior at Estancia High in 2000, current

Eagles star basketball player Carlos Pinto was in seventh grade.

Simco was a Newport-Mesa Dream Team and first-team All-Pacific Coast

League performer his senior year, when he averaged 13.3 points per

game.

Simco planned on playing collegiately at Concordia University in

Irvine. He played in four scrimmage games at Concordia, but tore his

ACL in a pick-up game at Estancia, putting a halt to his playing

career.

Still in need of a basketball fix, Simco assisted his father, the

Eagles’ junior varsity coach. The next year, Simco was offered the

frosh/soph head coaching job.

Simco would have coached Pinto, but Pinto’s abilities propelled

him to the varsity squad as a freshman.

Instead, Simco coached Danny Argumedo, Jose Molina, Hugo Escobedo,

Rafael Montillo, Eric Quintero, Jesse Hart, Tom Fryslie and Bryce

McKendry. All are now seniors on the varsity team.

Pinto and Ray Verrette, who transferred to Estancia his sophomore

year, are the only two seniors who were not coached by Simco as

freshmen.

The next year, Simco coached Dallas Kopp, Mike McDaniels, as well

as twins Scott and Shaun Markley, all now juniors playing for the

varsity team.

Last year, Simco was the junior varsity coach. He filled in on an

interim basis as the head varsity coach during the summer, after

Russell King resigned in April. He was officially hired as a walk-on

varsity coach at the end of June.

“This has always been my dream job ever since I was a little boy,”

Simco said.

The 22-year-old Simco has the Eagles soaring. Heading into

tonight’s home game against Ocean View, they are 17-4, 7-0 in the Golden West League. They are alone in first place, one-half game

ahead of crosstown rival Costa Mesa, and ranked No. 6 in CIF Southern

Section Division III-A.

As a player, Simco was known for his intensity. That intensity

remains even though he is not competing on the court.

“I was a fiery guy when I played,” he said. “I got a ton of

technicals when I was younger. I think I’ve calmed down a bit since

then.”

Even a more subdued Simco is more intense than most opposing

coaches.

“My assistant coaches say I’m going to have a heart attack by the

time I’m 25,” Simco said. “But I think I was even more animated when

I was a JV coach. I’ve settled down.”

Simco is not the only returning Estancia graduate in his mid-20s

coaching for the Eagles. Assistant Xavier Castellano graduated in

1998. Assistant Tom Rausch graduated in 1999. Junior varsity coach

Zack Novak graduated in 2003.

Despite their youth, Estancia coaches have their players’ respect.

“I like having a young coach,” Shaun Markley said. “It’s easier to

relate to.”

Markley knew the coaching style he would be dealing with this

year, since he had already played under Simco. Pinto, however, did

not know what to expect.

“[My teammates] told me the practices were going to be hard,”

Pinto said. “He wants the practices 10 times harder than the games,

and they are.”

Simco uses the youth of the coaches to his advantage by becoming

more involved in practices than other coaches might be.

If the coaches make a mistake in practice, they have to run the

same set of lines a player would.

Also, Simco can share his own experiences from his recent past as

a student-athlete at Estancia.

“A player will come up to me and say he’s having a bad time in a

class and I can say that I had that teacher and give him advice,”

Simco said. “Or they will try and tell me something and I tell them I

used that same excuse three years ago. We can talk about similar

things.”

Being young has not affected the coaching staff’s relationships

with the players, but it has created awkward moments.

“He loves working with kids,” Rausch said of Simco. “The only

issues we have had with our age is from other coaches. Before games,

they don’t know who’s hand to shake because they don’t think Jason is

old enough to be the coach.”

While opposing coaches -- and sometimes referees -- have trouble

knowing who is charge, the Estancia players have no doubt.

“He’s like our commander and we’re his soldiers,” Pinto said.

“People may say he’s too young, but I give him more respect because

he knows how it is. I can relate to him. He’s the coach and the coach

deserves respect.”

Simco set high expectations before the season, but he didn’t

expect the team to be this successful in his first year as varsity

head coach.

“I am pretty surprised [by how well Estancia has been playing],”

he said. “We didn’t have a great summer. We didn’t have great fall.

We knew we were good but we didn’t know how we would jell as a team.

It’s a real close-knit group. They’re all like brothers. It’s a great

group to be around.”