By Tim Peterson
(La Verne) – Damien head football coach Matt Bechtel has stepped down after five years the school announced Thursday.
The Spartans went 24-24 overall under Bechtel and 0-2 in the post season during the five-year run. Damien’s best year was last season as the Spartans went 8-3 and 3-1 in the Baseline league – tied for first place with Upland. They lost in the first round of the CIF Division 2 playoffs to Murrieta Valley 43-40.
Damien also made the playoffs in 2019 in Bechtel’s first year. The Spartans went 5-6 overall and fell in the first round of the CIF Division 4 playoffs to Camarillo 34-28.
Damien went 3-7 in 2021 and ’22 and missed the playoffs both years.
Damien did have an altercation with Upland earlier this year in the handshake line at the end of a passing league game in the Mission Viejo Tournament but it was not confirmed that the incident had anything to do with Bechtel’s resignation.
Assistant coach James Stewart, who was the defensive coordinator last year, was named the Interim Head Coach.
Here’s the statement released by the school:
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FBFan
July 19, 2024 – 3:5 what do you know about administrators? Many don’t give a lot of concern to hiring the best possible and experienced winner. Is it possible that many administrators only care about the school’s academic scores/? NO I do not claim I know more, but just experienced tens of administrators that could give a feces about winning football.
Nogales coach is trash. All hype like BP. Bunch of fools
Nogales the prime living example of this phenomenon……..ruined Coach Martinez last year , program is next
Seems like there’s a opportunity to hire him back based on the statement means like he is keeping his day job at the school
Note to head coaches,
Steer clear of the handler/recruiter/self promoter/7on7 types for your program. The value they bring does not outweigh the bad.
Administrators,
Steer clear from hiring those types as your head coach. Best case you win more games for 3-4 years before they move on while leaving the cupboard completely bare
Milvon James?
He should have been fired. Crap program play for pay. Selling fake dreams
If it weren’t for explanations that make no sense, we’d have very few explanations to analyze. Best of luck to Bechtel as he embarks on his season of working with the family.
Well this is very late in the cycle for a change, and I’m not sure how to interpret the ubiquitous health and well-being of family rationale . Interim coach Stewart in a large program will likely move on with everything otherwise intact.
Last year’s team was good , but overall it was a disappointing stint for Coach Bechtel that had its share of incidents . It will be interesting to see how team performs with this change .
Wow I wonder if that fight with Upland the final straw and he found out he may get fired so he resigned, or was it a culmination of things.