San Benito High School announced the addition of two new head coaches recently, and also replaced another coach after parent complaints.
Brian DeCarli was named the new head wrestling coach at San Benito High, replacing Matt Olejnik, while Hayley Vandercook was named the new girls water polo coach, taking over for Lacey Sutton.
Olejnik departed San Benito High after accepting a similar position at Mira Monte High School in Bakersfield, while Sutton coached the last two seasons at SBHS on an interim level.
Meanwhile, former boys soccer coach Ben Alvarez will replace Mike Schurig as head coach of the girls soccer team - a move that currently leaves an opening in the boys soccer program - after parent complaints.
"There were some parent complaints that questioned my ability as girls soccer coach, so they decided to look elsewhere," Schurig said. "It surprised me. I don't know all the details, but they were apparently unhappy with how I was running the team."
Schurig coached the girls soccer team the last seven years at San Benito, compiling a record of 40-25-14 in the Tri-County Athletic League, and 68-54-21 overall.
Last season, San Benito finished second in the TCAL at 6-3-3, 11-6-3 overall.
"Maybe it was time for a coaching change, I don't know," Schurig said. "It was not that I didn't want to stay."
Schurig will continue to teach Computer Applications at SBHS, among other classes. He was offered the chance to re-apply for the girls soccer position, but opted not to.
"I wish the program the best," he said. "I'll be watching from an audience standpoint, and I'm gonna miss a lot of the girls."
SBHS Athletic Director Tod Thatcher could not be reached for comment at press time.
Meanwhile, DeCarli will take over a wrestling program that finished second in the Central Coast Section last year.
DeCarli, 28, is originally from Salinas and graduated from Palma in 1997. He previously coached at Corcoran High School for one year, and wrestled mostly in the 165-pound division at Fresno State. He'll also teach P.E.
"I know there's a huge wrestling tradition [in Hollister]. There's a lot of support from the town, from the community," DeCarli said. "There's so much potential there to really compete with the top of the top at state. When I was in school, Hollister was a really good program and that has not changed."
Realizing the strong tradition, DeCarli has plans of simply continuing that tradition as well as furthering it.
"We want to compete and I want to compete at the state level," he said. "We want to dominate locally and be recognized up and down the state as a state contender year in and year out."
Vandercook, 24, will also be new to the SBHS campus. She graduated from Harbor High in 2002, Michigan State in 2006 and American University in 2008.
She'll teach math at SBHS.
Although San Benito will be her first official coaching job, Vandercook played for a Michigan State team that won the Big 10 all four years. In her senior year, Vandercook's Spartan squad defeated the University of Florida in the Club Water Polo Associations National Championship.
"My first goal is to get them in shape," said Vandercook, who plans on implementing two-a-days. "That was really important for me being successful.
"And (my second goal is to) make it to CCS. Hopefully, we'll get a tradition going."
Vandercook will take over a girls water polo team that went 20-7 last season overall, 7-1 in the TCAL.
The Lady 'Balers also trumped rival Santa Catalina in the TCAL tournament championship, and earned a 6-seed in the CCS playoffs, the highest seed the team has ever received.
Andrew Matheson Andrew Matheson is a sports writer for South Valley Newspapers. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 334 or at amatheson@svnewspapers.com.
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Students warm up for school
