Sources: Peter Lofthouse to be named Newport Harbor’s new football coach

Newport Harbor High plans to name Peter Lofthouse, the former head coach at San Diego Mesa College, as its new football coach this week, sources familiar with the situation said Tuesday.

Principal Sean Boulton said he could not yet comment on who would be the successor to Jeff Brinkley, the Sailors’ winningest coach who retired in January after 32 years at the helm.

“We have a coach,” Boulton said via text, “but we [cannot] announce or make it official until [the Newport-Mesa Unified School District] gives us the OK.”

Lofthouse was in charge of Mesa the past three years. He led the junior college to its most successful season last year, when it beat Santa Ana College 37-34 in the Southern California Bowl Nov. 18, finishing 9-2 overall. Lofthouse stepped down after the season.

If Newport Harbor gets approval from the district to bring in Lofthouse, he will take over for a legendary coach. Brinkley went 244-130-3 overall, the wins rank No. 5 all-time in Orange County, and his teams made eight CIF Southern Section finals appearances, winning the title three times.

Lofthouse, an El Toro High graduate, also held offensive coordinator duties for two years at Citrus College in Glendora before going to Mesa in 2015.

Lofthouse and Matt Burns were the top two finalists for the job, sources said. Burns played in the 1990s for Brinkley at Newport Harbor, served 20 years as an assistant under Brinkley, and currently teaches biology on campus.

Sources said Newport Harbor decided to go with someone outside of the program after the Sailors finished 2-8 overall and 2-3 in the Sunset League in 2017, missing the CIF Southern Section playoffs for the third consecutive season.

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