Football: It’s official, Meyer leaves CdM to coach Servite
The route Scott Meyer took after he left Corona del Mar High on Friday turned out to be unlike the one he has driven on the last four years. When it’s time for him to go home from coaching football at CdM, Meyer takes the 405 Freeway and heads north for Long Beach.
Meyer has found a different way home, and it’s one he will be making from now on from a different campus. The drive will be a couple of miles shorter for Meyer and he’s looking forward to doing the daily commute.
Meyer’s time as CdM’s football coach has ended. He went on a new path, taking him to Anaheim Servite, where the school named Meyer as its next football coach on Friday.
The last couple of days have been emotional for Meyer, who was torn about leaving his post at CdM, where he achieved unprecedented success, winning three CIF Southern Section Southern Division titles and a CIF State Division III title in four years, for Servite, one of the most-sought after and challenging coaching jobs in Orange County.
Ninety minutes before he drove to Servite to be introduced as the Friars’ coach, Meyer let the CdM players know how he felt about his decision. During sixth period, right before they began their off-season workouts, Meyer broke the news to many of the Sea Kings.
“I shared with them that the reason I have this opportunity is because of them and that they should look at it as an honor,” said Meyer, who finished 10-2 overall and 5-0 in league in his final season with the Sea Kings. “I’ll always be a fan of the CdM guys and relish those memories we made that will last forever.”
While Servite nabbed Meyer, the Friars were unable to pluck away Meyer’s top two assistants at CdM, defensive coordinator Dan O’Shea and offensive coordinator Kevin Hettig. Meyer said the Sea Kings named O’Shea and Hettig as interim head coaches. A source said the rest of Meyer’s staff wants to stay and coach under Hettig and O’Shea.
Meyer is the first to say how much O’Shea and Hettig have meant to CdM’s program. The two have been with Meyer since Meyer took over the Sea Kings four years ago, and they helped CdM go 50-6 overall and 19-1 in the Pacific Coast League, and claim three undefeated league crowns.
Going into this past season, their final season together, Meyer, O’Shea and Hettig had CdM on a couple of remarkable streaks, winners of 26 straight games and winners of three straight section championships. First the Sea Kings’ winning streak was snapped at 30 games with 28-14 loss at Tesoro in September, then their shot at a fourth consecutive section title evaporated with a 28-10 loss at Trabuco Hills in the CIF Southern Section Southwest Division quarterfinals in November, and now Meyer’s four-year run as coach of the Sea Kings ended on, of all days, Friday the 13th.
“Now was the right time when I looked at everything for me and the right time for the program [to go in a new direction],” said Meyer, who plans to finish his last semester of teaching economics and government at CdM, before going to Servite to focus on coaching the football program.
“I’m really excited. It’s going to be a great challenge. The goal is [to win] right away. There [are] some seniors, juniors and sophomores with experience and they’re anxious to win. We’re not waiting a few years to win.”
Meyer said he hasn’t met his Servite team, or assembled a staff, yet he’s awfully optimistic. He inherits a Servite program that went a combined 10-13 the past two seasons under-then coach A.J. Gass. Servite lost Gass in December, when Gass became the coach at Bakersfield Garces.
Servite competes in the Trinity League, considered one of the toughest leagues in California, and in the CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division playoffs, the elite division in the state. Servite placed fifth in league at 1-4 and lost to Long Beach Poly, 34-33, in the quarterfinals last season. The Friars finished 4-7 overall, suffering their second losing season in three years.
Servite has appeared in eight section finals, winning five of them. The most recent championship came in 2010 in the CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division under then-coach Troy Thomas. The team’s lone setback that season came against Concord De La Salle, 48-8, in the CIF State Open Division Bowl Game. The state finals appearance marked Servite’s second in a row, it won in Division II in 2009.
The Friars turn to Meyer, a 50-year-old who has shown he has that championship pedigree, although in the CIF Southern Section Southern Division, considered Division 9 during CdM’s three-peat. Two seasons after leading CdM to a historic 16-0 season and a CIF State Division III title, Meyer is off to his third head coaching job, his first at a private school, which has a lot more resources than CdM.
“Meyer’s coaching philosophy mirrors what we believe here at Servite; he focuses on the formation of the entire individual,” said Alan Clinton, Servite’s athletic director. “Being a man of faith and integrity himself and a proven winner, we believe he is a very good fit for the Servite football program and a great addition to the Friar family.”