A rap on Tami that simply doesn’t fly

ROGER CARLSON

I don’t know if anyone will ever be able to quite make sense out of

the numbers, but I have some which clearly will leave most scratching

their heads in wonderment.

Like the movie, Catch-22, there are times when no matter what the

circumstance, the right answer doesn’t emerge. Especially when you

pick up a book on Estancia High’s basketball history and check the

latest chapter.

For instance, the 20-point plateau.

It was a 20-point margin of victory for the Estancia High girls

basketball team over crosstown rival Costa Mesa which apparently was

too much for Estancia Principal Tom Antal, who used it as one of four

reasons recently for firing his coach of two years, Tami Rappa, for

“running up the score” ... as in unsportsmanlike conduct.

It seems a little odd when you consider two prior coaches at

Estancia coached their girls teams to various overwhelming victories

over what were generally considered “cupcake” foes.

To my knowledge, neither was ever reprimanded for those blowout

victories, some by margins of 60 and 70 points.

I don’t get it, but I know any sort of inquiry at Estancia’s big

door will draw the usual response that administrators hide behind.

“It’s a personnel matter,” which closes the door to logical inquiry.

The Estancia players, en masse, approached the Daily Pilot for

help, the parents took their case to Antal for a four-hour meeting to

no avail and Rappa continues her search for a new spot on the floor.

Rappa had an astounding turnout of 80 basketball candidates for

her program prior to the season and there were some 80 at the

season-ending banquet April 2 where parent after parent expressed

their appreciation.

She said she was shocked to learn her team had taken their case to

the Daily Pilot to try to stop the principal’s decision.

“I was almost in tears I was so moved,” said Rappa, a full-time

teacher at Ocean View High.

I remember Tami Rappa in only her first of a two-year coaching

tour with the Eagles when she created some waves on the Estancia

campus, instituting various outrageous demands, such as expecting her

players to be on time for practice, to be on time for the bus, to

hustle on the floor and to do their best every time out. She didn’t

have a lot of patience for slackers.

Meanwhile, she was up and down off the bench with a constant rush

to correct any and every deficiency in her team’s game.

And clearly, every player on that team had been snapped into the

reality of what it takes to be a winner, not just a player.

As for the two confrontations with crosstown rival Costa Mesa this

past season:

A 59-38 first-round Golden West League win over Costa Mesa was

ignited by a 19-4 first-quarter lead and from there the Eagles

managed to “run it up” with a 40-34 advantage the rest of the way.

In the 53-33 verdict in the second round, a 20-10 third quarter broke it open.

With a roster of seven, she left her seniors on the floor in their

final appearance against Costa Mesa, a tradition virtually any coach

would adhere to in order to bring each out in the final seconds to

well-deserved applause.

“Oh,” was the reaction when she explained the situation after

being called on the carpet for “leaving the starters in and running

up the score.”

Rappa admits her pride may have hurt her chances for the next step

when she refused to resign and walk away quietly, but her own sense

of justice forced her to push it to the next step and be fired.

However, her resume will still carry some solid recommendations,

including both athletic directors at Estancia, Nancy Ferda and Tim

Parsel. How’s that for a contradiction?

The biggest question, of course, is this numbers game.

Since when is a 20-point victory considered to be “running it up”?

Here’s an example of running it up: It’s applying a full-court

press on a hapless opponent with quick passes to your best player

after the turnover, as did Morningside High in 1990 against South

Torrance.

There was Morningside, featuring the towering Lisa Leslie, against

a team of struggling 5-footers as she scored 101 points to set a CIF

record for most points in a game by one player.

I wasn’t there for the game.

But I was in the hallway at CIF on the campus of Gahr High when

Commissioner Stan Thomas chewed out the Morningside coach for the

humiliation his team was responsible for with one of the world’s

greatest tirades as the CIF playoffs pairings were being distributed

in another part of the building.

I backed off and slipped into a door opening, and thus was

“trapped” into listening to the two-minute outburst.

The red-faced Thomas left the coach of the two-time CIF 5-AA and

Division I State champions totally wilted after explaining the values

of the game, and how he and his two-time CIF Player of the Year had

virtually destroyed the concept of sportsmanship with their truly

humiliating performance, and hollow record.

Had there been an audience, Thomas, once a principal at Tustin

High, would surely have been given a standing ovation.

Rappa was the recipient of three standing ovations by way of her

team’s response, the parents’ response and the overwhelming support

at the team’s banquet.

For sure, there will be no standing ovations for the Estancia

principal, who wants to take the Eagles to a “new direction.” At

least not on this basis.

It’s hard to envision anyone doing more for their players than

Tami Rappa did for hers and the values she instilled go much further

than three-point baskets and pressure defense. She elevated her

Eagles, that much is obvious.

She said she was accused of conducting Sunday practices, which

were untrue. And, apparently, she “caused waves.” She left her

teaching position at Estancia in the first week of school this past

fall for a teaching job at Ocean View High in Huntington Beach,

continuing as a walk-on coach at Estancia, which may have tweaked

some administrative noses. Surely, that’s not a motive. If that’s a

wave, it holds as much water as the other baseless charges.

Finally, a question that will not be answered. Was it really the

principal’s sole decision? Or was the glass house (Newport-Mesa

District administrators) involved? We’ll never know.

So the Eagles find themselves in the search mode again, looking

for a varsity girls basketball coach. They’re also looking for a boys

basketball coach, who will be the third in less than a year.

It will be a while before it is known just what avenues will be

available for replacement coaches.

Meanwhile, assistants Jason Simco (boys) and Ernie Wright (girls),

both candidates for the openings, fill the interim posts to keep the

programs afloat.

Estancia hoops ... never a dull moment.

Hey! See you next Sunday!

* ROGER CARLSON is the former sports editor for the Daily Pilot.

His column appears on Sundays. He can be reached by e-mail at

[email protected].