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Season of change for CdM

Dan O'Shea is in his first year as Corona del Mar High football coach.
(Scott Smeltzer / Daily Pilot)
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Dan O’Shea’s second attempt as a head coach of a high school football team is different. He’s 45 now, 12 years older than the first time he took the reigns of a program.

The situation at Corona del Mar is quite the contrast from O’Shea’s first chance to lead.

“We were trying to just see if we could get a first down,” O’Shea said of his time as the head coach at his alma mater Long Beach St. Anthony. “The year before I got there, they didn’t score an offensive touchdown. It was brutal. We were just trying to field a football team. I went there, and it’s a really proud school, and I was just hoping to be part of a group that wanted to restore the football program.”

Rebuilding CdM isn’t something O’Shea has to do. He has already helped turn CdM into one of the best public programs in Orange County.

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O’Shea served as the defensive coordinator with the Sea Kings the last four years. The four-year span saw CdM go 50-6 overall and 19-1 in the Pacific Coast League, and claim three league titles, three CIF Southern Section Southern Division crowns, and one CIF State Division III championship.

When Scott Meyer left the top job at CdM in February to guide Servite, O’Shea became the CdM coach two months later. O’Shea plans to stick around CdM longer than he did during his first act as a head coach.

O’Shea lasted only two years at St. Anthony, losing a lot more than he won. What O’Shea learned from those two years was invaluable.

“I learned as a head coach the importance of hiring talented assistants and letting them do their job,” said O’Shea, who will be teaching at CdM for the first time, after spending the previous years as a teacher at Trabuco Hills. “It’s really hard for me. I’m kind of a … control-oriented guy and I have a specific way I want things done. [We] teach assistants to do it the way we want to do it as a program and trust them to do their job.”

O’Shea is thorough, and his staff respects him for it. His right-hand man is Kevin Hettig, the offensive coordinator. They have been coaching together since 2006, when they were assistants at Trabuco Hills.

O’Shea likes to say he and Hettig are attached to the hip 24-7. Hettig said O’Shea’s new coaching title hasn’t changed him one bit.

Not much has changed at CdM when it comes to the core of the staff, only Meyer and Aaron Huerta, an assistant, are gone. The Sea Kings brought on a handful of assistants to contribute.

The nonleague schedule will be taxing for the Sea Kings, who will be playing every game this year away from Newport Beach. Their home field, Davidson Field at Newport Harbor, is unavailable because of upcoming renovations.

Five of CdM’s six home contests are at Jim Scott Stadium and the other is at Orange Coast College. The season opener is against Palos Verdes, the defending CIF Southern Section Western Division champion, at Jim Scott Stadium on Friday at 7 p.m. Three other tough dates are at El Toro, a West Valley Division quarterfinalist last year, on Sept. 11, the Battle of the Bay against rival Newport Harbor at OCC the following week, before closing out nonleague play against Tesoro, a West Valley Division quarterfinalist last year, at Jim Scott Stadium on Sept. 24.

“Our expectations are no different than they ever have been, which is to go 16-0,” O’Shea said of a record the Sea Kings have only achieved once, in 2013, becoming the first in California to do so. “We felt that there were two tough loses for us last year, the Tesoro game and the Trabuco [Hills] game, where we did not play our best football. We felt we were talented enough to meet our annual goal, but we didn’t execute or play well enough in those two games.”

The setback at Tesoro last year ended CdM’s 30-game winning streak and the loss at Trabuco Hills ended CdM’s season. The Sea Kings’ run at a fourth straight consecutive section title came to an early stop, losing at Trabuco Hills, 28-10, in the quarterfinals of the Southwest Division playoffs.

The program lost many talented starters, including the entire defense, off a team that finished 10-2 overall and 5-0 in league. The double-digit win season marked CdM’s fifth straight, the last four of those O’Shea has been a part of as an assistant.

O’Shea is now in charge of the Sea Kings, and he said he feels a lot more confident in his second stint as a head coach. He and the players are talking about bringing more championships to CdM.

Corona del Mar Sea Kings

League: Pacific Coast

CIF Division: Southwest

Coach: Dan O’Shea (first year)

Staff: Kevin Hettig (offensive coordinator/quarterbacks), Brad Bohn (wide receivers/special teams), Dennis Wilbanks (offensive line), Tony Thornton (secondary), Zack Stein (secondary), Joel Wittenberg (defensive line), Karif Byrd (speed and conditioning), Jake Morado (offensive line), Corey Vann (wide receiver/running backs), Matt Hill (linebackers), Ryan Ketcham (secondary), Jack O’Shea (director of scout team operations), Bob Hettig (director of scout team operations), Craig Truglio (trainer)

2014 season: 10-2, 5-0 in Pacific Coast League (first place), lost at Trabuco Hills, 28-10, in the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Southwest Division playoffs

Offensive scheme: No-huddle, spread offense

Defensive scheme: 4-3, 3-4

Returning offensive starters: Seven

Returning defensive starters: None

Returning with honors: QB Chase Garbers, OL Mitch Dean

SCHEDULE

August

28 – Palos Verdes

September

4 – at Dana Hills

11 – at El Toro

17 – vs. Newport Harbor at Orange Coast College, 7:30 p.m.

24 – Tesoro

October

9 – vs. Woodbridge* at University

15 – Beckman*

23 – at University*

30 – Northwood*

November

5 – Irvine*

*denotes league game

All home games at Jim Scott Stadium, unless noted

All games 7 p.m., unless noted

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