Draluck resigns as Newport Harbor girls’ soccer coach

Citing several factors including a lack of energy and enthusiasm from his players, Newport Harbor High girls’ soccer Coach Larry Draluck has resigned, he said Tuesday.

Draluck’s last game coaching the Sailors was a 2-0 Sunset League loss to Marina on Jan. 18. That also appeared to be the last straw for Draluck, who told his players after the game that he was stepping down.

“I didn’t see myself getting the best out of the players for whatever reason,” Draluck said. “I had more enthusiasm, basically, than the players. I was getting frustrated ... I know the team was capable but us as a whole, generally, they just didn’t have passion for what they were doing.”

Draluck was in his ninth season as head coach. His frosh-soph coach, Edson Rodriguez, will be the interim varsity coach for the rest of the season.

The Sailors had struggled for much of Draluck’s tenure, last making the playoffs in 2012. They were 3-8-7 overall, and 1-3 in league, heading into Tuesday night’s home game against Edison.

Draluck said the parents of some players had complained to the Newport Harbor administration about his coaching this season.

“I just wasn’t comfortable,” he said. “I was walking on eggshells, looking over my shoulder and was being constantly scrutinized. It would have been great if they would have come to me and said, ‘Hey, these are my issues,’ but they went over my head.”

Draluck, who is a high-level club soccer coach for the SC Blues, was a walk-on coach at Newport Harbor.

“I ended up feeling that the school thought I was doing something wrong,” Draluck said. “I’m not bitter, I’m at peace with it, but I don’t think things were handled as well as they could have been ... Once I started adjusting my decisions based on input from the administration, it just wasn’t my thing anymore.”

Newport Harbor athletic director Mike Zimmerman said the school obviously encourages its players and parents to discuss issues directly with the coach first, but it didn’t work that way in this case.

“I don’t think that ultimately was the reason that Larry stepped down,” Zimmerman said. “I’ve always been a supporter of Larry Draluck and continue to be. As far as I’m concerned, he did a great job with the program and with the girls that he coached. We want to move forward in a positive fashion.”

The Sailors had some promising results early in league play, starting with a win over Fountain Valley before suffering a tough overtime loss against a solid Huntington Beach side. But the shutout loss at Marina bugged Draluck, he said. One of the team’s players earned a red card in the game due to dissent, he said, which also made him upset. It was the second player for the Sailors who earned a red card this season.

“I don’t want to disparage Marina, but they’re probably the weakest team that we played,” he said. “And we couldn’t muster enough energy to score a goal ... Whoever you are, regardless of your level, you’ve got to put some effort in. That’s the No. 1 thing. I wasn’t inspiring the players, and they weren’t inspiring me.”

Star junior forward Sianna Siemonsma said she and her teammates were “shocked” and “confused” when Draluck resigned following the Marina game, especially since it was the middle of the season. But, she said, she understood some of his frustration.

“It was kind of all falling apart,” she said. “The past years, we’ve had more passion, I’d say. It’s hard for high school. It’s kind of hard to get a whole team who has the fire that Larry wanted. Some people are just doing it for fun. Not everyone’s doing it because they love soccer, you know?”

Siemonsma said Draluck’s inability to connect with the team did play a factor, calling it “a huge problem.”

“I feel like it’s just been getting worse and worse each year, and this year he just couldn’t do it anymore,” Siemonsma said. “I don’t blame him.”

Draluck said that overall he doesn’t have regrets about his time coaching the Sailors.

“I really loved it and enjoyed it,” he said. “I’d still be there if I felt like I had some support.”