SACRAMENTO — Cori Close’s candid remarks about the growing challenges of coaching in modern college athletics sparked a reaction nationwide among her peers.
On Thursday, the UCLA women’s basketball coach was asked about the rapid changes shaping college sports ahead of her Bruins’ Sweet 16 matchup against Minnesota on Friday night. The No. 1-seeded Bruins (33-1) entered the Sweet 16 round considered a strong Final Four contender, powered by one of the deepest starting lineups in the nation.
“I’ve never been as tired as I’ve been in the last two years, and it’s made me think how much longer I can do this,” Close said. “And I’m just being transparent with you about that. There are so many things that are harder, and we keep losing incredible people on the men’s and the women’s side.”
UCLA has dominated throughout the season, entering the Sweet 16 on a 27-game winning streak that dates to late November. Three starters — Lauren Betts, Charlisse Leger-Walker and Gianna Kneepkens — began their college careers elsewhere before transferring into the program.
“How do we now figure out this transfer portal? Let’s not complain about it,” Close said. “Let’s have solutions about what’s right and what adjustments need to be made. … I’m a huge advocate for NIL. It should have happened 20 years ago. And we need boundaries. We need infrastructure. We need competitive equity. We need transparency.”
In contrast, Louisville coach Jeff Walz offered a more critical perspective when addressing the same topic during a NCAA news conference in Fort Worth, Texas.
UCLA guard Kiki Rice points across the court while talking with Bruins coach Cori Close during an NCAA tournament win over California Baptist at Pauley Pavilion on March 21.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
“I’m friends with Cori,” Walz said. “My favorite line, I would tell her, if you don’t like your job, find a new job. I mean, I’m listening this morning at 4:20 as the workers outside my window at the hotel in the street are working. I mean, you choose your profession. If you don’t like it, find a new profession.”
No. 3-seeded Louisville will face No. 2 Michigan on Saturday after falling short against Duke in the ACC championship game.
Close, who has spent 33 years in coaching, including 15 at UCLA, has navigated an evolving landscape shaped by name, image and likeness compensation policies and the transfer portal, just like everyone else. Last season, she earned national coach of the year and led the Bruins to the program’s first Final Four. UCLA has now reached at least the Sweet 16 during four consecutive seasons and eight times during Close’s tenure in Westwood.
This year, the Bruins swept through Big Ten play undefeated and once again secured a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
“I mean, of course, it’s a lot of work, but we chose to do it and we get compensated for it,” Walz said. “I don’t think anybody is going to feel too sorry for us that you might be tired. I’m tired, too, but who is not?”
Several longtime coaches have stepped away from the game in recent years, amid, though not always directly attributed to, the sport’s ongoing transformation. Hall of Fame Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer retired in 2025, while Georgia Tech’s Nell Fortner, Iowa’s Lisa Bluder and Harvard’s Kathy Delaney-Smith stepped down during the past three seasons.
“It’s ever-changing, and that’s the frustrating part, because you can never get a grasp on any of it,” Kentucky coach Kenny Brooks said. “You think that you have it. Then all of a sudden, it’s like somebody pulls a rug out and says, ‘No, we’re changing it,’ and now it’s going to be this way now. We want to get out ahead of everything, but we can’t. We always seem like we’re one step behind because there are so many changes.”
Ultimately, Close’s message centered on the need for structural support in a rapidly shifting environment.
“If there’s one thing I would ask of our governing bodies and the NCAA and our administrations is please develop infrastructure and boundaries that create an opportunity to have sustained excellence and sustainable pace,” she said. “Otherwise, we are going to continue to lose some of our best coaches, and I do not think our game can afford to do that.”
Lynn says he has been very impressed with the South Africa-born former flanker and expects to see a “big improvement” in that area, especially with Holmes being full-time.
“It’s what we will be needing to be competitive,” said Lynn, who admits his side were “bullied off the park” in their World Cup opener against Scotland.
Brython Thunder coach Ashley Beck will attempt to revive Wales’ stale attack, while Exeter Chiefs head coach Steve Salvin will be working with the forwards on an interim basis.
“It’s new voices, new faces and big energy,” said Lynn.
“What we’re going after is that consistency, every coach who’s coming in is making sure that we are following the process.
“I want us to be more hard-working, competitive, and when you’re in those competitive games and you find those winning moments, those game-changing moments, that’s where I feel this team can grow.”
For Nareg Kopooshian, the basketball coach at AGBU High in Canoga Park, there’s a big summer ahead. He’s going to be the head coach for the U16 Armenian national team in the FIBA U16 EuroBasket competition July 4-12 in Yerevan.
It’s the first time Armenia is hosting the event.
Los Angeles has the largest Armenian community in the United States with as many as 700,000 people.
Players selected for the training camp in Armenia include Anthony Sarkesian (Chaminade), Anthony Karayan (Village Christian), Ethan Kazanjian (AGBU), Edward Gemjian (La Canada) and Jivan Dorian (AGBU).
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
“Playing for Wales is the highest honour you can get when you are a player and it’s the same when you are a coach,” said Beck.
“To be asked by Sean to join the set-up for the Women’s 2026 Six Nations is a real privilege and I am excited by the challenge of coaching at Test match level.
“Having worked with a host of the players in the Celtic Challenge, I know the talent we have in Wales and the challenge for the players is to believe they can compete at this level.”
Wales kick off their Six Nations campaign at home to Scotland at Principality Stadium on Saturday, 11 April.
Zidane will succeed his former national side teammate Didier Deschamps as France head coach, according to the report.
Published On 24 Mar 202624 Mar 2026
French football icon Zinedine Zidane has agreed to take over his national team’s head coaching duties following this summer’s FIFA World Cup, ESPN reported on Monday.
Zidane, 53, reportedly reached a verbal agreement with the Federation Francaise de Football to replace Didier Deschamps, who has held the role since 2012.
Zidane, who managed La Liga powerhouse Real Madrid for two stints (2016-18, 2019-21), has long been expected to eventually become the skipper for France.
As a player, the dynamic midfielder won the 1998 Ballon d’Or and was a three-time FIFA World Player of the Year (1998, 2000 and 2003).
He helped France win the World Cup in 1998 and finish second in 2006. He was infamously sent off during the final of the latter World Cup when he head-butted Italy’s Marco Materazzi in the chest.
Zidane watches the CAF Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal between Algeria and Nigeria at the Grand Stadium of Marrakesh, Marrakesh, Morocco, on January 10, 2026 [Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters]
When UCLA baseball coach John Savage scouts prospects, he looks at their projections and skill upside. Most important, he wants players dedicated to the culture he’s developed during his 22 years as a coach.
“We want people that fit into our program, that want to be a part of a winning culture,” he said.
Most of his current roster consists of players who came up short in last year’s College World Series. This year, the No. 1 team in the country has its eyes set on winning a national title in Omaha. The Bruins (21-2 overall, 9-0 in the Big Ten) are coming off a three-game weekend home sweep of Maryland.
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The Times spoke to Savage about the expectations the Bruins set for themselves and his longevity with UCLA. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Your team entered the year ranked No. 1 nationally and has gotten off to a strong start. How have you managed expectations?
Savage: It’s really about the people you have in the clubhouse. They’ve been born and raised through our program. Now it’s their junior years. They went to Omaha their sophomore year. They had a difficult year their freshman year. It’s been a work in progress, and I think the expectations are probably the heaviest inside our room. Everybody’s held to a very high standard and they believe in one another, they believe in the program. It’s refreshing to coach people that want to be coached, and to have people that love UCLA, and want to stay at UCLA.
After returning a large percentage of last year’s production, what differences have you noticed in this roster compared to previous teams?
UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky.
(Kyusung Gong / Associated Press)
Savage: I think the leadership is fantastic. Roch Cholowsky, Cashel Dugger, Michael Barnett, Jack O’Connor — our captains, they do a wonderful job of making sure guys are accountable. Everybody’s a year older. Everybody’s a little stronger. Everybody’s a little faster. A lot of guys that work extremely hard to upgrade their physicality, and then certainly it’s a mental game. We’ve worked really hard on the mental side of things to make sure that we’re combining both phases.
What has allowed your program to retain so much of its core talent year to year?
Savage: I would say loyalty, personal relationships, wanting to be at UCLA, to get a degree from UCLA, coaching staff, facilities, location. But, I would say most importantly, relationships. We didn’t win a national championship last year and these guys seem to be on that sort of mission.
Last season’s run to Omaha ended just short of the championship series. How much has that experience motivated this year’s group early in the season?
Savage: You see where you’re going. People always talk about Omaha, but if you never go, it’s hard to really envision what it looks like. It’s something that if you experience, you want to go back. It’s the mecca of college baseball and the city of Omaha has done a wonderful job of developing this tournament over 75 years. It’s an experience that you go and you definitely want to go back as a player and certainly as a coach.
How has recruiting or roster construction changed, if at all, now that UCLA is competing in the Big Ten instead of the Pac-12?
Savage: It’s still UCLA. I’ve been here 22 years, we’ve produced 30 major leaguers. It’s a place that you certainly could go and enjoy your college life and go play in the major leagues. The Big Ten is getting better in baseball, with the addition of UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington. Obviously, it has helped the baseball side of things quite a bit. But there’s a lot of programs that are investing throughout the Big Ten in baseball and it’s only going to get better. Baseball is baseball. You gotta go play any time, anywhere.
With the travel demands that come with a conference like the Big Ten, what adjustments have you made to keep players fresh and focused?
Savage: We don’t charter. We’re all commercial. We fly out of LAX on Wednesday morning and we get back late Sunday night. It’s a challenge and it’s certainly one that it’s a daily and weekly operation. In terms of managing school, they all go to class. Not a lot of remote classes, really, so we love the challenge and the opportunity to grow as a young player and a young person.
You’re now in your 22nd season leading the Bruins. What has kept you motivated to continue evolving as a coach after more than two decades in Westwood?
Savage: I love being at UCLA. I love what it stands for. It’s a combination that I’m really looking for in terms of baseball, schedule, league, school — it’s just an elite combination. You have to make sure you’re grounded. You have to make sure you’re very consistent. You have to make sure that you have true values that are consistent with the university and that equates to winning. Winning is really, really difficult, especially now at the Power 4 level.
When players leave UCLA after their careers — whether they go to pro baseball or move on to other careers — what do you hope they carry with them from their time in your program?
Savage: That they understand how to be a contributor to an organization, to a business, how to lead a family, how to lead a group in work. Just be a person that people like to be around and a person that has a vision, that they want to get better and they want to do well in their lives and they want to have impact on other lives. That’s ultimately what we’re looking for, that they can handle themselves in any phase of life.
UCLA men are out, UCLA women stay strong
UConn’s Tarris Reed Jr. tries to get through UCLA’s Trent Perry, from left, Donovan Dent and Eric Dailey Jr. in the first half Monday.
(Matt Rourke / Associated Press)
UCLA coach Mick Cronin never wavered.
If senior forward Tyler Bilodeau felt any pain, he was not playing the NCAA tournament.
The No. 7 seed Bruins could not overcome No. 2 seed UConn’s interior game and suffered a 73-57 loss. The Bruins kept it close early, trailing by just five at halftime.
Cronin will help UCLA cope with the sudden end to its season and then immediately work on sorting out next season’s roster.
While fans questioned Cronin’s aggressive coaching style, the Bruins did play significantly improved defense through the final four weeks of their season and his players never wavered in their support of him.
Now Cronin will start over, working to forge comparable buy-in from the next wave of players.
The UCLA women walk to the bench during a time out against Cal Baptist.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
It’s rare for a No. 1 seed in the women’s NCAA tournament to miss the Sweet 16, but the Bruins (32-1) say they expect a big test when they face No. 8 seed Oklahoma State (24-9) at 7 p.m. Monday night at Pauley Pavilion.
It will be the final game the Bruins’ celebrated senior class will play at Pauley Pavilion.
UCLA coach Cori Close provided the following scouting report on Oklahoma State.
“I think that what stands out is their ability to shoot the three, their versatility, their work down the tunnel with the high ball screen,” Close said. “They’re extremely good in transition. It’s going to be so important for us to make them play later into the shot clock, which is going to be easier said than done. But I guess with the exception they don’t have like a really tall big, but they actually remind me in terms of their style and some of the actions that they run of Oklahoma. Their guard play.
“And one of the big things that we talk a lot about is trying to make them play later in the clock than they’re comfortable with. Now we go through all the analytics, and the later you have them play in the shot clock, the less efficient they become. They’re 13th in the country in offensive efficiency. They’re really, really good.
“Defensively I think that we obviously need to really hunt the paint. We’ve got some advantages with our size there. But they’re a really good team.”
Survey says
We asked “How far will the UCLA men advance in the NCAA men’s tournament. After 648 votes, the results:
They lose in the second round, 36.5% They lose in the Sweet 16, 27.5% They lose in the Elite Eight, 17.3% They win it all, 12.6% They lose in the first round, 3.2% They lose in the Final Four, 2.5% They lose in the championship game, 0.4%
Do you have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future UCLA newsletter? Email newsletters editor Houston Mitchell at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
There was a spiritual pull for Bellamy returning to Wales.
Born in Cardiff, he spent most of his playing career outside of his homeland, representing the likes of Liverpool and Newcastle.
As a coach, Bellamy followed Vincent Kompany to Anderlecht and Burnley, describing his time with the now Bayern Munich boss as an “education”.
The former Manchester City team-mates remain good friends and speak frequently, but Bellamy felt it was time to become a head coach in his own right when his country came calling.
Despite only being an assistant to Kompany at Burnley, Bellamy took a substantial pay cut to take charge of Wales.
This, however, was a job like no other. As well as the obvious emotional ties, Bellamy had unfinished business.
He never got the chance to play at a major international tournament but, as head coach, he aims to put that right by qualifying for this summer’s World Cup.
“You always have that buzz of chasing something, like I want qualification, I want to be at major tournaments,” Bellamy says.
“But how do we do it? I’ve got loads of flaws, but the team needs to play with intensity, play with balls.
“As long as you have belief, that’s the motivation. That’s why you do so much work, why you look at opposition.
“As a footballer for Wales, I didn’t really feel belief, I just felt hope. Italy [when Wales won 2-1 in 2002 in a European Championship qualifier] was different because we took the game to them. We were brilliant but there weren’t many nights like that.”
Bellamy scored the winning goal when Wales last faced Italy in Cardiff, a momentous occasion at a sold-out Millennium Stadium.
The teams will meet again if they win their respective World Cup play-off semi-finals on Thursday, with the final to be played at Cardiff City Stadium the following Tuesday.
Much like Bellamy himself, Welsh football is unrecognisable from that memorable night 24 years ago.
Having been absent from major tournaments since the 1958 World Cup, Wales not only qualified for Euro 2016 but reached the semi-finals in France, three years after Bellamy retired.
They followed that by getting to the knockout stages at Euro 2020 and then qualifying for the 2022 World Cup.
Bellamy wants to build on that success – and take his country to new heights.
“Euro 2016, that moment was like, ‘We are here’. That gave belief and I want to carry that on,” he says.
“We do punch well above our weight but that’s where we want to be. We need to do it continuously. I like expectations.
“This is what it takes to be a Wales player. To wear this shirt, these are the qualities you have to have. I believe we have a chance to consistently be at major tournaments.”
With that, Bellamy turns back to his laptop. The cursor hovers over files labelled ‘Italy’ and ‘Northern Ireland’ – Wales’ potential play-off final opponents – and then back to ‘Bosnia’.
Whether or not Wales get to the World Cup this summer, it will not be down to a lack of preparation.
Coaching high school basketball since the 1979-80 season and being the second-winningest coach in state history with 1,127 victories, Mike LeDuc is one of those old-school coaches who likes to push his players forward and fade into the background when team success comes.
This season at Damien, LeDuc can take a bow for guiding the Spartans to the state Division I championship with little size but a group of players who loved to shoot threes, never stopped hustling on defense and executed close to perfection on the biggest stage at Golden 1 Center and during his team’s playoff run.
For turning a group of players he fondly called “overachievers” into champions, LeDuc is The Times’ boys’ basketball coach of the year.
Through his many years of coaching at Damien and previously at Glendora, he’s mentored such outstanding players as Tracy Murray, Casey Jacobsen and Cameron Murray. Now Cameron’s sophomore son, CJ, plays for Damien. It’s a full circle moment for LeDuc, who was holding his granddaughter at the awards ceremony in Sacramento.
As the years go by and the game keeps changing, LeDuc continues to adapt, adjust and power on.
LeDuc‘s answer is, “Basketball is a real simple game. It’s a game of repetition and if you do it over and over, you expect it to be done perfectly.”
Huddersfield Giants have sacked head coach Luke Robinson after a poor start to the 2026 Super League season.
Giants have lost all of their opening five matches, leaving them without a point and bottom of the table.
Robinson began his second spell as Giants boss in September 2024, replacing Ian Watson, and went on to lose his first nine matches in charge before finally tasting success with a narrow victory against Hull FC at Magic Weekend last May.
Hampered by financial limitations, Robinson eventually guided the club to 10th in the final Super League standings last year.
This season, the 41-year-old has had to deal with a number of injuries to key players, including star full-back George Flanagan Jr, one of 16 first-team members who were unavailable during an injury crisis labelled as “unprecedented” by the club earlier this month.
Robinson was left looking a forlorn figure following his side’s defeat by Bradford Bulls on Friday night, which has ended up being his final match in charge.
He previously, but briefly, acted as interim head coach of Giants during the end of the Covid-affected 2020 season after Simon Woolford resigned, taking charge of the final eight matches of the campaign.
Director of rugby Andy Kelly will take charge of the first team until Robinson’s successor is appointed.
Huddersfield continue their Super League campaign with a trip to league leaders Wigan on Saturday [15:00 GMT].
PHILADELPHIA — Besides carrying on the UCLA legacy, which Mick Cronin says is an honor in itself, he’s got an extra incentive here this weekend that has nothing to do with finding the best cheesesteak in town.
“We’ve got to win two games,” said Cronin, whose Bruins will start off going against Central Florida, whose coach, Johnny Dawkins, knows all too well from the years they squared off when he was at Cincinnati in the American Athletic Conference. “My daughter goes to American [University.]
“I’ll see her Monday. But I would like to spend a week with her.”
That’s because the East Region will be held in Washington, where AU is located. But for the Bruins to advance to past a Sunday showdown most likely against powerful Connecticut, Cronin says they’ll first need to contain Central Florida’s potent attack.
UCLA coach Mick Cronin talks with guard Trent Perry during the Bruins’ game at Michigan on Feb. 14.
(Lon Horwedel / Associated Press)
“Central Florida can score,” he explained of the 21-11 Knights, who’ve successfully made the transition from the AAC to the Big 12. “They’re athletic.
“[Themus] Fulks [averaging 14.1 points and 6.7 assists] keeps me up at night because he can get in the lane whenever he wants. He’s great off the pick and roll. He makes good reads and he’s a problem.
“I’ve seen Riley Kugel [14.4 points] since high school. He played for a friend of mine, so I know he’s a very good player and has gotten better as he’s gotten older.
“They can shoot it. They’ve struggled of late which means law of averages, that’s going to flip. They’re an athletic, aggressive team.”
On the other hand Dawkins, back in the city where he played for five years and won an NBA Eastern Conference title while playing alongside Charles Barkley, knows what he’s up against.
“Mick does a great job with his team,” said Dawkins, who before coming to Central Florida went 156-115 coaching eight years at Stanford, following a decade serving as Mike Krzyzewski’s assistant at his alma mater, Duke. “Of course. UCLA is a storied program of all college basketball.
“What an amazing history they’ve had there. and, of course, Coach Cronin is a coach I have known from the American as well. I know his team is going to be really, really talented.
“They’re very skilled and they’re tough.”
Speaking of that legacy, which includes a 1976 Final Four appearance here under John Wooden’s replacement, Gene Bartow, Cronin’s players knew what they were signing up for when they decided to come to Westwood.
“It’s definitely a blessing just to be part of this, to be part of the history, part of the tradition,” said senior guard Skyy Clark, averaging 11.7 points per game. “It’s a lot to carry for sure, but it motivates us to go out there and just do what we can.”
UCLA forward Tyler Bilodeau is congratulated by fans after beating USC at the Galen Center on March 7.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
“Yeah, a lot comes with these four letters we wear on our chest,” added second-leading scorer and top playmaker Donovan Dent (13.5, 7.6 assists). “We just want to make our names and the history of it.
“I wouldn’t say there’s extra pressure, but we know there’s definitely a standard that needs to be held.”
UCLA forward Tyler Bilodeau and Dent were injured during the Bruins’ Big Ten tournament run, but Cronin said Thursday “they looked good today [during practice,] so knock on wood.”
Maintaining the standard first set by Wooden is what lured Cronin from Cincinnati, where he won 296 games in 13 years and took them to the NCAA tournament nine times.
“I had a great job and was close to being the winningest coach ever at Cincinnati,” said Cronin, who’ll be making his fourth tourney appearance with the Bruins, including dropping a 2022 Sweet Sixteen game to North Carolina in this building. “But I left to sit in Coach Wooden’s chair and coach at the best university in the country, arguably the world, and everything that goes with it.
“It’s tremendous. I’ve been very fortunate. To coach at my alma mater, Cincinnati, and to be the head basketball coach at UCLA following so many.”
On Friday night, Cronin and the Bruins will take on the challenge of Central Florida and his longtime adversary Dawkins, mindful there are no gimmes once you get this far. No. 5 seed Wisconsin learned that during a loss to No. 12 High Point on Thursday and top-ranked Duke nearly did, having to rally from 13 points down to survive No. 16 Siena.
“You got to have players,” he said. “If you can’t coach, you’re not going to be in those tournaments. “The better players you have, the further you go.
That’s the whole key to getting in these things and advancing in them. Perseverance.”
Angelo Gasca, a one-of-a-kind high school football coach who grew up using football to escape from gangs and became a beloved special education teacher, mentor and coach for 36 years at Venice High, died Monday night while watching a Lakers game on television, according to longtime friend, Steve Clarkson. He was 65.
The 1978 Venice graduate never left his neighborhood. Gasca won his first and only City Section Division I championship in 2021. He was known for his innovative passing schemes and producing numerous top City Section quarterbacks, led by former NFL player JP Losman. He was such a fixture at Venice that coaching sons of former players became the norm. He loved the concept of “neighborhood team.”
Perhaps his most important contribution was training, supporting and preparing players to become teachers and coaches. Most of his staff at Venice has been made up of former players. He’d help them stick with the difficult task of earning a teaching credential and find jobs for them.
He was most proud of former running back Byron Ellis, who became an orthopedic surgeon, and receiver Brycen Tremayne, who walked on at Stanford, went undrafted and made the Carolina Panthers.
Last month, Gasca was asked if he ever learned anything from a player and he told the story of having a coaches meeting and one of his ex-players reminded him how he wanted to quit football but Gasca wouldn’t let him.
“I’m not accepting your resignation today,” Gasca told him. “You need to go home and think about it.”
Said Gasca: “He went home and thought about it and stayed on the team and was the starting center. He taught me the best thing we can teach kids is come to school and you never know what connections you’ll make at the school you grew up at. He taught me there’s more to coaching than winning games and scoring touchdowns. In our lives as teachers and coaches, we do learn from players. When we stop learning, it’s time to stop coaching.”
Even though there were rumors last season of Gasca retiring, he insisted he was coming back because he loved teaching and coaching and believed that sports competition can change someone’s life for the better.
“My parents didn’t attend high school,” he said. “When you play, you get a little taste of success and want to play harder and people come into your life and help you. It’s just as easy to do well as it is to do bad. Sometimes when your friends zig right, you have to zig left. The life lessons we learn together is what it’s about.”
That’s the only way to describe what San Juan Hills players, coaches and fans were feeling on Saturday at Golden 1 Center when Alex Osterloh made two of three free throws with 0.3 seconds left to give Atherton Sacred Heart Prep a 47-45 victory in the Division IV state boys’ basketball championship game.
Osterloh was fouled at the top of the key by Kellen Owens with the scored tied.
“I’m pretty sure I was fouled,” Osterloh said.
San Juan Hills had earlier lost the ball on a turnover, its 19th of the game, surrendering its chance to take the lead.
“It was a tough ending,” San Juan Hills coach Jason Efstathiou said. “We turned over the ball too much. Nineteen is insane. Ultimately we didn’t do a good enough job handling pressure.”
San Juan Hills (22-14) came back from a 12-point deficit in the second quarter to take a four-point lead in the fourth quarter.
Garrett Brehmer finished with 17 points while Rocco Jensen had 10 points and eight rebounds for San Juan Hills. Osterloh scored 15 points and Pat Bala had 13.
“There’s a little distaste,” Efstathiou said, “but at the same time we got to be here.”
Hall of Fame high school football coach Bob Johnson, who turned El Toro and Mission Viejo into powerhouse high school football programs and became one of the winningest coaches in state history, has died. He was 80. He had been battling Alzheimer’s.
“I feel for the family,” Mission Viejo football coach Chad Johnson (no relation) said Wednesday.
Johnson passed early Wednesday morning,
Johnson won six Southern Section titles coaching at Mission Viejo and three at El Toro while winning 338 games, the second winningest in Orange County history and in the top five in state history, according to the Orange County Register.
His two sons, Rob and Bret, were standout high school quarterbacks before enrolling at USC and UCLA, respectively. Rob made it to the NFL. Both became coaches after their playing days were completed. Rob still coaches as an assistant at Mission Viejo.
When Jeff Bryant was playing high school basketball at Sylmar, the top teams in the City Section were annually among the best in California.
“The City dominated back in the day,” Bryant, now the head coach at Palisades, said Tuesday before Southern California Regional Division II boys’ basketball final. His Dolphins lost a heartbreaker, 59-57 at Bakersfield Christian, falling a win short of a trip to Sacramento for the state finals.
Eleven days earlier Palisades captured the City Open Division crown, going undefeated against section opponents, and with 10 players — including all five starters — returning next season, Bryant not only has his sights set on a repeat, he wants to reverse a 15-year trend during which City teams have struggled to compete at the highest level.
City boys teams won the state’s top division five times in six years from 1993-98 and seven times in nine years from 2002-10. However, since the Open Division debuted in 2013 only two City teams have advanced to the regional finals in that division — Westchester in 2014 and Fairfax in 2015 — and the last time a City team made the Open bracket was five years ago when Birmingham lost in the first round.
Bryant, who graduated in 2006, will be rooting for his former coach on Friday when his alma mater plays for the Division V state championship under the guidance of Bort Escoto, who piloted the Spartans to the City Division II title on the same night Palisades won the Open Division. Sylmar was dropped down to Division V for regionals and ran the table.
Birmingham was upset by Fairfax in the opening round of the City Open Division playoffs Feb. 11 and dropped to Division III for the regional tournament. The Patriots have since reeled off four convincing victories and will also play for a state title Friday afternoon.
Birmingham and Sylmar are the latest City teams to benefit from regional playoff expansion in which teams are placed several divisions lower from where they played in their section. Chatsworth advanced to the Division II state final last winter after losing in the City Open Division final and reached the Division IV state final after its City Open semifinal loss two years ago. Like Sylmar this season, Verdugo Hills was the City Division II champion in 2024 and went on to play for the Division V state title.
On the girls’ side, no City squad has won an Open Division state playoff game. Five teams from the section have received berths in the highest division over the last 14 years, but none since Fairfax in 2018. Narbonne is the last City team to conquer the state’s top division, claiming back-to-back Division I titles in 2000 and 2001, long before the Open debuted.
Like the boys, City girls’ teams fare well when dropped to lower divisions.
Palisades, which fell in the first round in the City Open Division, plays for the state Division IV crown Saturday while City Open Division champion Westchester was seeded 14th in Division I for regionals and lost in the first round. Granada Hills went to the Division III state finals two years ago after losing in the first round of the City’s Open Division.
Before taking the helm at Palisades, Bryant guided West Ranch of the Southern Section into the Open Division regional playoffs in 2023. Now he aims to do the same at a school in the section he once played in.
Walsall have sacked head coach Mat Sadler following Tuesday’s defeat by Salford City which left them with one win in their past 11 matches in League Two.
The 1-0 loss was their third in a row and further dented their fading challenge for a play-off place.
Walsall were four points clear at the top of the table in early December, but a run of two wins in 14 since Boxing Day has left them 11th in the table, three points outside the top seven with 10 games remaining.
Sadler, a former defender at the club, leaves after a nearly three years in charge, having been appointed on a permanent basis in May 2023 following a short interim stint.
“I would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the significant efforts and contributions of Mat, both as a professional and as a person, during his time at the club,” Walsall co-chairman Ben Boycott said.
“We thank him for his dedicated service and wish him the very best for the future.”
Coach Darren Byfield will take interim charge of the team with support from Terry Connor and the rest of the backroom staff, the club also confirmed.
