CdM names Kevin Hettig as head football coach after Dan O’Shea steps down

After a highly successful eight-year stint as the head coach of the Corona del Mar High football program, Dan O’Shea has stepped down, the school announced Wednesday.

Kevin Hettig, who served as the associate head coach and the team’s offensive coordinator on O’Shea’s staff, has been named the head coach, effective immediately.

O’Shea led the Sea Kings to an 80-18-1 overall record across his eight seasons. During his tenure, Corona del Mar made the jump from the Pacific Coast League to the Sunset League.

The Sea Kings advanced to three CIF Southern Section finals with O’Shea at the helm, finally breaking through in a banner year in 2019, when CdM went a perfect 16-0. That season saw CdM avenge a CIF finals defeat to Simi Valley Grace Brethren in 2018, and the Sea Kings went on to win the CIF State Division 1-A championship against San Mateo Serra.

O’Shea, who took over the CdM program when Scott Meyer departed for Servite in 2015, also led his teams to three Pacific Coast League crowns and two Sunset League titles.

School officials noted that O’Shea is pursuing opportunities that will afford him more time to spend with family.

Kevin Hettig, back row left, will succeed Dan O’Shea, back row right, as Corona del Mar’s head football coach. They are pictured attending the CIF Southern Section football press conference and luncheon at the Grand in Long Beach.

(Kevin Chang / Staff Photographer)

“The decision was an extremely difficult one for me, but one that had to be made for the overall well-being of my family,” O’Shea said in a news release announcing the coaching change. “Corona del Mar High School administration could not have selected a finer coach and person than Kevin Hettig.”

A native of Yucca Valley, Hettig, 40, graduated from UC San Diego in 2004. He earned his teaching credential and a master’s degree in coaching and athletic administration from Concordia University.

Hettig has helped lead the Sea Kings’ quarterbacks to marked success, as several of them have gone on to play in college. Starting quarterbacks for the program since 2015 include Chase Garbers (Cal and the Las Vegas Raiders), Nathaniel Espinoza (Chapman), Ethan Garbers (UCLA) and David Rasor (UC Davis).

“I am going to miss working with Dan O’Shea,” Hettig said in a statement. “Not only because of his great coaching ability, but because he is one of my best friends in the world. One of the things I value most about Dan is that he puts family first, and I couldn’t be happier for him.

“CdM is the greatest school at which to coach. The kids are focused and hardworking, the parental and community support unparalleled. We have a great nucleus of returning players and some great up-and-coming talent.”

The opportunity to become a head coach was not particularly on Hettig’s radar, he said in a phone interview on Wednesday. In the end, it would be this opportunity or none for O’Shea’s right-hand man.

“I was in no hurry to go anywhere, and any time anything kind of came up, I didn’t even look twice at it,” Hettig said. “I was very happy doing what I was doing with Dan and with CdM football. That is the truth.

“I wasn’t looking for anything, and I definitely wasn’t looking for this, but I’m more than ready for it. I think it’s going to sound a little different sometimes, look a little different sometimes, but the core of the program I helped shape, and I wasn’t going to walk away from that.”

Hettig added that he intends to retain CdM’s coaching staff. He assumes head coaching duties of a Sea Kings team that is coming off a season in which it went 9-4 overall and 3-2 in the Sunset League. Corona del Mar lost 51-20 at Yorba Linda in the Division 3 semifinals.

“We are so excited to have Kevin take over at the helm of our football program,” CdM athletic director Brian Walsh said. “He has been such an integral part of this program’s success and is well equipped to take on this new role. We are confident that he will continue to have a profound impact on the growth and development of our student-athletes and relentlessly look for ways to raise the expectations for Sea King football.”

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