Brinkley still going at it

Jeff Brinkley plans to retire from Newport Harbor High in December, but not from coaching football.

After 30 years at the school, Brinkley said it’s time for him to step down as a physical education teacher. The extra time will allow the 62-year-old to focus on only football, which he loves.

There is no timetable set for Brinkley to call it a career as a coach. Coaching high school football is all Brinkley has known since 1978, when he began his career in Norwalk. Eight years later, Brinkley left his hometown for Newport Harbor, and he hasn’t stopped leading the Sailors since.

Season No. 30 for Brinkley as Newport Harbor’s coach kicks off on Thursday, when the Sailors play host to Rialto Eisenhower at 7 p.m. Until last week, the home opener was going to be away from Davidson Field.

That changed Wednesday. The Sailors won’t have to play all of their home games on the road, a relief for Brinkley. It seemed like he was going to have to coach every Newport Harbor home game outside of Davidson Field for the first time.

With the upcoming $8.5-million renovation to Davidson Field delayed until Oct. 26, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District approved for the Sailors to play their first four home games on the field Brinkley has called home since 1986.

“It’s advantageous for us to play at home,” said Brinkley, whose team will play one home game at Orange Coast College, the regular-season finale on Nov. 6 against Edison. “I think we play well at home. A lot of teams are used to playing on the turf and we’ve got natural grass, and I think that’s somewhat of an advantage.”

The first time Newport Harbor travels will be on Sept. 11, and it will play a team led by someone Brinkley coached with at his first coaching stop, Excelsior. The school shut its doors in 1981, but Brinkley is familiar with Roddy Hiatt, who is in his first season at the helm of his alma mater, Pico Rivera El Rancho, ranked No. 10 in the CIF Southern Section Southeast Division poll.

“They’re still good,” Brinkley said of the Dons, a powerhouse in the 1960s, appearing in five section finals, winning three of them under Ernie Johnson, who went on to coach at Newport Harbor for one season in 1970, leading the Sailors to their first Sunset League title in 28 years.

Since 1970, Newport Harbor has only finished first in the Sunset League three times, one of those came under Brinkley. It has been seven years since Brinkley guided the Sailors to atop the Sunset League. They rejoined the league in 2006, after playing in it from 1967-80.

Overall, Brinkley has won six league titles at Newport Harbor, five in the Seaview League. In three of those first-place finishes, Newport Harbor went on to claim section championships in 1994, ’99 and ‘05, and it was a section finalist in ’04.

The Sailors, who have made eight section finals appearances and won three section titles under Brinkley, last reached the section championship two years ago and won it all 10 years ago. Getting back to that stage will be a challenge for Newport Harbor.

Only five starters return on offense and five on defense, most of which go both ways. The Sailors aren’t early-season contenders in the CIF Southern Section West Valley Division, but you can never count out a Brinkley-coached team.

“The division is tough, to say the least,” Brinkley said of the West Valley Division, which has Vista Murrieta, Rancho Cucamonga, Mission Viejo, Temecula Great Oak, Tesoro, El Toro, Upland, Los Alamitos, Edison and Chino Hills ranked one through 10. “It’s really the best public school division.”

Brinkley’s teams have gone up against the elite in the past and prevailed. He’s been coaching for a long time, entering his 38th overall season with a 262-158-7 record.

When it comes to wins in California, Brinkley ranks 22nd. Most of his wins, 233 of them, have come with the Sailors.

Continuing the success is something Brinkley wants to do this year and next year. He’s looking forward to the renovations at Davidson Field to be completed before the start of the 2016 season.

“I’m planning on [coming back next year], unless somebody has a different plan for me,” Brinkley said with a smile. “When I quit enjoying the preparation and the camaraderie with the coaches and the [players], all of that, I’ll know when it’s time [to retire as Newport Harbor’s coach]. But right now I still love putting together a practice plan and I still love studying different strategies and things that are going on within the game.”

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Newport Harbor Sailors

League: Sunset

CIF Division: West Valley

Coach: Jeff Brinkley (30th year, 233-111-3)

Staff: Matt Burns (defensive coordinator/linebackers), Tony Ciarelli (defensive backs), Robert Shaw (defensive line), Bill Brown (running backs), Chris Anderson (offensive line), Ryan Formento (offensive line), Garrett Govaars (wide receivers), George Greenwalt (tight ends), Veronica Beavor (trainer)

2014 season: 5-6, 3-2 in Sunset League (third place), lost at Tesoro, 52-14, in the first round of the CIF Southern Section West Valley Division playoffs

Offensive scheme: West coast

Defensive scheme: 4-3

Returning offensive starters: Five

Returning defensive starters: Five

Returning with honors: LB Dalton Rosene, RB Cole Kinder, OL Michael Jarboe, WR Jack Rapillo, OL Joey Stukonis

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SCHEDULE

September

3 – Eisenhower

11 – at El Rancho

17 – vs. Corona del Mar at Orange Coast College, 7:30 p.m.

25 – at San Clemente

October

2 – Mira Costa

9 – Fountain Valley*

16 – at Huntington Beach*

23 – Los Alamitos*

30 – vs. Marina* at Westminster

November

6 – Edison* at Orange Coast College

*denotes league game

All home games at Davidson Field, unless noted

All games 7 p.m., unless noted