Travis Brown returns home as the head coach at Los Altos.
By Tim Peterson
(Hacienda Heights) – Los Altos has named Travis Brown head football coach Brown confirmed Thursday.
Brown, a Los Altos alum, led Cantwell Sacred Heart to a 6-5 record and a playoff appearance last season before stepping down last month. He replaces Hector Spathias who was dismissed earlier this month after just one season.
Brown, who previously had a stint as the head coach at Duarte, had recently agreed to become the offensive coordinator at Northview before the Los Altos job opened up. Having played for the Conquerors, it was an opportunity too good to pass up.
“Home, sweet, home,” Brown posted on Twitter.
@ Cantwell alum, I was talking about Los Altos and brown!
@anomymous
Not sure what the admin at Cantwell is thinking?? They have enjoyed some success the last 10 years or so with boys and girls basketball as well as the last 5 years with the baseball program. The school has never had a great reputation among local Catholic schools and I think the recent athletic success of those programs has somewhat helped repair that reputation. Now with all that is going on over there with the athletic program and can see the school falling off the radar among local sought out schools. The next school year will tell us a lot.
Horrible hire. He has not done a thing as a coach. Who cares about what he did as a player at LA. Los Altos does not have the same guys when he was there as a player.
Spathias To Nogales
I would also love to hear the justification for the timing of the firing/hiring. I would’ve loved to be a fly in the room when Spathias was meeting with the LA administration!!!
Los Altos definitely did some back alley deal. I’m still not sure LA upgrades here. Spathias made Bassett relevant… yes Bassett! Plus they posted a 7-3 mark in a rebuilding year for the conqs. Travis Brown couldn’t win at Duarte even tho they had the best athletes in their league. Same at Cantwell, probably the only team in D13 that recruited and still couldn’t get out of the first round.
As far as Ziola goes, I’ll say this… he had a once in a decade runningback that literally carried that team to the finals. Once Nevens graduated and the LA staff went on to coach at DB, they went 0-10 so who is Dale Ziola really? A coach who can only win with a once in a decade player? I’m my opinion, Spathias has proven to be the far better coach of the three. I would love to here why or what the departing staff did to warrant the pink slip.
We have a history of hiring shady coach. Our softball coach Lydell McCullough was doing illegal recruiting years ago. He was told to step down before the s…t hit the fan. Just last year our shady AD rehired him to do softball again. I don’t know a whole lot about how coach Brown was hired but it looks like another one of Formano’s scandalous or suspect moves. I don’t know how Formano gets away with all these transgressions, it’s going to catchup with him and when it does I hope my kids will be finished with high school.
@cantwell alum, sound like a great marriage then. That coach and that admin sound like they deserve each other, lol. Too bad for the kids, they are always the ones that pay the price for the mistakes of adults….
Good riddance. He didn’t do much at Cantwell, the little progress made was because the program couldn’t drop much lower. Had some very questionable coaches on his coaching staff.
Just a bad move all the way around! Spat is a quality coach who was severely underappreciated! The way LA handled this whole thing has been well documented on here, and that is wrong! Also, Coach Brown seems like a great person I have nothing against him but what success has he had as a Coach? Didn’t do much at Cantwell in D13… Be careful LA the grass isn’t always greener
Looks like Ziola will be taking over at Nogales high school
RIP Jeremy Sanchez!!!!
@AHS, you’re are 100% correct on your entire statement!!!
We played LA at our place early in the passing circuit. They looked terrible. The LA parents are the worst. Than later that summer we saw LA in the Bonita tournament. The beat is on they way to the simis. The team looked really good, much improved, but the parents got worse. I don’t know how any coaching staff can coach for such, for a better word, ghetto parents. I’m sure the players are embarrassed on how these parents represent themselves. Flat out ugly.
Wonder if Brown will tone it down now that he has his dream job. He has been the butt of many jokes at passing tournaments with all of his antics. Had some pretty shady characters coaching with him at Cantwell too! LA won’t deal well with that.
Commenter ‘Outsider’ has it right: the Los Altos administrators are the problem here. Instead of sitting back and supporting Ziola in whatever he felt was best, they pestered and picked until Dale couldn’t take it anymore. Now, they are on the verge of seeing their program revert to the days of dysfunction and distress.
Who will be the next OC over at Nview ?
Formanos looks and is shady as hell.
Now I know why Dale Ziola wanted out at Los Altos. The parents think there kids should have a cif championship and nothing less. The AD sounds like a piece of work and the administration let all this happen. Dale coached last year but not at Los Altos, he rather suffer through an 0-10 season than coach at LA. So it is obvious that Dale wanted to coach and still does but he wants no part of LA
As I recall when Dale Ziola was hired something very similar happened. Arrelanes was the current coach and Ziola was the freshman coach. Next thing you know they fire Arrellanes and Ziola became the coach a few days later. Weird stuff always happens in high school sports this isn’t anything new. What Los Altos should now focus on is making sure they have their assistants in place and start making sure the kids buy into the new staff. They have a very young talented team that can certainly make some noise in the Hacienda. But it will be the Coach Brown’s job to gather both parents and kids and make sure they are on the same page.
Los Altos moves the process very very quickly… lol! Errrr…. more likely screwed the former staff over by not firing them earlier this not allowing them ample time for another job. Also, shame on Brown for accepting the job while it was filled! Unwritten rules my friend. The whole thing sticks like yesterday’s diapers!
@SH, you’re right about the AD!
There is no way a coach gets cleared in a week. It takes three weeks just for the finger prints to get cleared if there is no background problems. Than you need board approval. The AD pulled a fast one. He knew this was happening a month ago. That’s why CO and SH does not trust anything that AD says. It makes hacienda la puente school district look bad. I know this district has a bad reputation and this confirms what we all thought about that district.
This just confirms all the rumors, which really shows Browns true character as well as Los Altos admin. The admin used those guys to do all off season training, when they knew the wanted to part ways. What a shame LA football is run like this now. It won’t end well for those mentioned.
What position will Brown get? He isn’t a teacher. Security?
Simply put, Los Altos got lucky with Ziola, who represented an oasis of excitement in a sea of mediocrity. This is not to say that Ziola would do any better at picking-up where he left off if he returned today; I believe the school and Dale were together at the right place and time, which is over. Brown will probably preside over a denouement back the swamp of average football performance, and soon be replaced by another such hopeful.
Good hire. At Cantwell there was no support. Even The Basketball program at Cantwell will be going down. Coach Brown really hasn’t shown anything at his coaching stops. Maybe he will turn things around.
has Brown show any promise as a coach? i hope he does well and good luck that division and league are way tougher from that cantwell league and division
This hire will be very interesting in terms of the future for the program. There is an excitement for Coach Brown because of his success at Los Altos as a player but of course he will need to produce. This hire will put a lot of pressure on Coach Brown as well the administration to produce wins. I hope that Coach Brown can bring in assistants that will help develop the young skilled players they have. With news that the season will be beginning earlier in August, they will need to get to work now. But welcome back Coach Brown and wish you the very best this season!