COMMUNITY COLLEGES / MITCH POLIN : Diagraming Plays Is Easy Compared to Charting Assistant’s Schedule

With the increasing demands of the job, it is difficult enough for a person to coach football at one school.

But Gene Simon is the only person in the South Bay who can say he is coaching teams at the high school and community college levels.

Simon, 36, is wide receiver and tight end coach at El Camino College and quarterback, running back and defensive back coach at Redondo High. Simon is in his fourth season at El Camino and first at Redondo.

“I don’t know of anyone who does that anymore,” El Camino Coach John Featherstone said. “It’s just something that’s very difficult to do and Gene had to do a great job of shuffling his hours so he could pull it off.”

This wasn’t the original plan for Simon. But that was before he was hired as a teacher at Redondo.

“I was coaching at El Camino and I really like it and I was already planning on coaching this season,” Simon said. “Then I got hired at Redondo in August and they wanted me to coach there, too.”

Although he was hesitant about coaching at Redondo, Simon’s background in football helped him get the full-time teaching position.

“They wanted a teacher who also coached,” he said. “So during my interview, I played up my teaching ability. But they made it clear to me that they wanted me to coach.”

Since he had already committed to coaching at El Camino, Simon decided to try his hand at the daily double.

It has not been easy.

“It’s been very hectic, but I knew what I was getting into and I think I’ve learned a lot from it,” he said.

He has certainly learned how to plan a busy schedule.

For Simon, the busiest day of the week is Sunday.

“Sunday’s a killer because I go to both schools,” he said. “I spend half the morning at El Camino and then go to Redondo in the afternoon. It’s hard on you and it’s a long day, but you have to prepare on the weekend or you won’t be ready for the week.”

As for the rest of the week, Simon coaches Monday and Tuesday at Redondo, Wednesday and Thursday at both schools, goes to Redondo games on Friday and El Camino games on Saturday.

Besides teaching a full load of classes during the week, Simon is also completing work on a master’s degree. He teaches biology, physical science and writing classes.

It leaves little time to spend with his wife, Carolyn, or his two daughters. But the family has found a way to work around the problem.

“Sometimes my wife brings the kids to practice and sometimes we’ll have lunch in the parking lot at school,” he said. “We try to do things like that to see each other. But it takes a very understanding wife to be able to do this.”

Simon enjoys coaching at both schools, but is unsure how long he will continue the arrangement.

“I don’t know if I’ll be allowed to do both next year,” he said. “I feel if I was allowed to do both I could do it. I don’t know what my future as a coach is right now. It may be in high school, but we’ll have to see.”

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It appears that Southwest freshman defensive back Darrell Cooley has perfected the art of making the big play.

Among his accomplishments this season:

* A 92-yard interception return for a touchdown against Pierce on Saturday.

* A 71-yard kickoff return that set up another score against Pierce.

* A 106-yard interception return for a touchdown against Compton in an Oct. 9 game.

“He’s a big-play ballplayer,” Coach Henry Washington said. “He was that in high school (at Jefferson High) and he is at this level. People take a big chance when they throw at him.”

Going into Saturday’s game against Valley, Cooley leads the Western State Conference in interceptions with six, punt returns with an average of 23.5 yards and kickoff returns with an average of 30.1. He also ranks seventh in the conference in punting with a 36.4 average and 11th in all-purpose yards with 605.

Washington’s only concern about Cooley has been his consistency.

“He’s a great football player,” he said. “He’s just young right now and he doesn’t show it in every game. He didn’t show up to play against West L.A. (Oct. 25), but he had a great game against Pierce.”

Washington believes Cooley can play at a Division I school. The roadblock at the moment is academics.

“He’s a Division I player in every sense of the word, but he still has a way to go as a student,” Washington said. “I’m more concerned with that aspect of his development. Right now, if Darrell had an (associate arts) degree, he could hook up with a lot of Division I teams.”

Washington and his staff have been stressing the importance of academics to Cooley.

“He’s a very capable person,” Washington said. “It’s just a case of him applying himself. But I think he wants it bad and he’s going to get it done.”

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El Camino Coach John Featherstone has been searching for ways to motivate his team, which has struggled to a 2-6 record.

On Saturday, he will pull out his trump card as the Warriors prepare to play Mt. San Antonio.

Featherstone has arranged to take his team to see “Rudy,” a film about an undersized player who makes the Notre Dame football team.

“As a coach, I’m very much into the mental side of the game,” he said. “So I’m always trying to do something to get our players ready and keep them motivated. That’s just the way I am.”

Featherstone has seen clips from the film and a number of acquaintances have recommended it.

“As down as (the team is) and with the way they feel right now, it will hopefully make them feel good about playing football,” Featherstone said.

Featherstone said a few of his players have already seen the movie and thought the rest of the team should, too.

“I just think it’s the type of movie that tells you to keep faith in yourself and realize that good things can still happen if you work hard enough,” he said.

With two games remaining, Featherstone is hoping the film helps his team to a Hollywood ending.

“Our goal right now is to win our last two games and go out a winner in 1993 so we can have something to build on for next year,” he said.