Anchoring the Sailors

Barry Faulkner

Navigating the daily obstacle course that comes with his position of

authority, there are inevitable instances when Eric Tweit wishes the

buck stopped somewhere else. But, he said, those moments are quickly

submerged beneath the satisfaction and appreciation he has for the

teachers, coaches, staff members, parents and student-athletes he

works with as boys athletic director at Newport Harbor High.

“At least once every day, there is a time when I wish I wasn’t the

athletic director,” Tweit said. “Then, I think of all the people I’m

fortunate enough to work with here and to be doing what I do. Even a

bad day here is better than a day spent anywhere else.”

Tweit has worked elsewhere in a 30-year career as a teacher, coach

and administrator. But, since arriving at Newport Harbor in February,

1980, he has been an enduring and tireless fixture, who has helped

continue and even broaden the school’s reputation as one of the best

all-around athletic programs in Orange County and beyond. He will

begin his 14th year as athletic director in the fall.

The Sailors have a proud boys tradition in water polo (11 CIF

Southern Section championships), volleyball (three), tennis (three),

football (two), cross country (one, to go with a CIF State crown)

and, in recent years, swimming (one) and basketball. Newport also has

a CIF title to its credit in soccer.

Bill Barnett spent more than 30 seasons as the boys water polo

coach and is still heavily involved in the program, coached the last

two years by Jason Lynch. Barnett, along with football coach Jeff

Brinkley and volleyball head man Dan Glenn, both with 17 years under

their belt as head coach of their respective programs, Larry Hirst

with eight years at the basketball helm, and Nowell Kay, a combined

29 seasons as an assistant in two sports before taking over cross

country and track and field last fall, are the anchors of a staff

that also includes many longtime assistant coaches.

Veteran assistants pervade in football, including Bill Brown (21

seasons), Mike Bargas (11), Tony Ciarelli (10) and Bill Calloway

(10).

Les Cutler, now working on the lower levels, is another coach with

a long association with the aquatics programs, while athletic

secretary Judy Ayers, with more than 20 years on the job, is

universally viewed as the glue to the entire athletic operation.

“Where we’re most fortunate is the core of coaches who have hung

in there, and you have to start with Bill Barnett,” Tweit said. “When

I first came to Newport Harbor, I was in awe of the coaches who were

here, like Barnett and [then-basketball coach] Jerry DeBusk. Then,

you add Dan Glenn and Jeff Brinkley, who have both done just a

tremendous job and have had a lot of success.”

Tweit also said the addition of Fletcher Olson as girls athletic

director has helped him be more effective as both an administrator

and a coach -- he guides the girls cross county and track and field

teams.

“We overlap with boys and girls and we try to do things that play

to our strong suits, which are different,” Tweit said of working with

Olson.

Tweit describes his AD duties as being “like the coach of a bigger

team,” though he does not consider himself a coach of coaches.

“We have too many coaches who are better than good and I’m not as

good as those guys,” said Tweit, who still relishes his coaching

assignments. “I always say that my job is whatever my coaches need me

to do, so they can be successful. For some, that means just staying

out of their way.”

Still, Tweit’s duties, in association with Ayers, Olson and his

coaches, include fund raising, coordinating transportation and

officials, as well as dealing with inquiries and concerns from

parents and athletes.

He is grateful for the strong parental support that exists in all

programs and cautious about overtaxing the financial resources of

those parents, whose dollars sustain programs woefully under-funded

by the state.

“About 99% of our parents are fantastic,” Tweit said. “We could

not run athletics at Newport Harbor if our parents didn’t buy in and

support us financially.”

A primary focus is maintaining quality and continuity among his

coaching staff, a never-ending crusade.

Of the Sailors’ 12 boys programs, five are run by on-campus

teachers, while baseball coach Joel Desguin teaches at another school

within the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.

Walk-ons, including Kay -- who, like walk-on tennis coach Jeff

Thomsen and new soccer coach Ryan Hernandez, is a Harbor alumnus --

are also in charge in wrestling (Dominic Bulone) and golf (co-coaches

Marianne Towersey and Scott Tarnow).

Hernandez is the fourth soccer coach in four seasons, a turnover

rate Tweit hopes to rectify. The revolving door of coaches, however,

is not uncommon in high school sports.

“I had one kid in our soccer program ask me during last season who

was going to be the coach next year?” Tweit said. “This was before we

knew the coach wouldn’t be back. But since there had been a different

coach every year this kid was in the program, he thought you could

only have the job for one season.”

Tweit said the struggles of the baseball program (the lone league

title came in the 1940s at a school that opened in 1930) have been a

source of frustration for the school and the community, as well.

“We’ve had good coaches, there, too,” Tweit said. “One parent

asked me why baseball hasn’t had the success of our other sports. I

told him, if I knew the answer, I would have made those changes a

long time ago. Right now, the No. 1 thing I want to do is to have our

baseball program be successful. To win, you need to get kids out and

it’s tough to get kids out when you’re not winning.”

Another challenge on the immediate horizon is balancing the use of

facilities, specifically field space diminished the next four or five

years to accommodate portable classrooms used while much of the

campus is being rebuilt.

Tweit is also concerned that this construction, funded by a recent

bond measure, will exhaust funds needed to refurbish deteriorating

locker rooms and other facilities, including two rustic gymnasiums

that were originally part of the rebuilding plan, but since appear to

be squeezed out due to lack of money.

In general, however, Tweit is thankful for the facilities that

exist, including the district’s only football stadium.

A recurring presence at dozens of athletic contests in all sports

every year -- home and away, boys and girls -- Tweit wears the pride

he has in his school with each of his dozens of sweatshirts and

jackets that feature the Newport Harbor logo.

“I say our school is special, because that’s where I’m at every

day,” Tweit said. “But we really do think we have something special

here, and a lot of our coaches feel the same way.”