Veteran Calif. HS football coach steps down

Bob Ladouceur after 34 seasons at Concord De La Salle and a career mark of 399-24-3.

http://calhisports.com/2013/01/04/ladouceur-hangs-up-head-coaching-whistle-after-34-seasons/

 

This is the coach and the school that had a 151-game winning streak from I think the early '90s to the mid-2000s. They played all over the state -- a series with Mater Dei down south, they would play the powerhouse program in Honolulu -- didn't duck anyone. I think they still haven't lost a game within the region in all that time.

 

Went to a playoff game at the beginning of his run there. Everyone seemed to like the young new coach who ran the veer. A few years later, many schools in the area were running the veer with young head coaches. Nobody ran - or runs - it better.
Hell of a coach.
There was - probably still is - a lot of griping about De La Salle recruiting - but if you look at their roster, it's not like they have a lot of big bodies, only four guys 250 or above.

 

I was talking with a TV reporter about De La Salle's program and he told me there weren't anyone who was that standout, NFL bound guy, but the program was remarkably disciplined. There's nothing that promotes football at the school and the kids all just expect to go through everything they need to do to win each week. In the East Bay, there really isn't a school that can compete. And during that streak, they took on all comers and didn't play the non-league cream puffs. It's interesting to see, though, what happens each year now that California has a state championship. De La Salle just about always gets there, but I think So. Cal schools seem to have its number.

Recruiting of players across the California private schools is a joke. You are not supposed to do it, yet schools like Mater Dei always seem to magically get the best of the best year in and year out and those players just happen to be able to afford the tuition and CIF just looks the other way in 99 percent of the cases.

Still, it will be interesting to see if the program can keep going the same. The routine, disciple and commitment to winning should carry over because it has been there for so long and it should just be ingrained, but you never know.

 

When Bellvue beat them all those years ago to end the streak, I was amazed.

 

De la Salle beat a stacked Long Beach Poly team a decade ago, twice. They were a machine.

Yup. Been this way for decades.

 

Ladouceur is only 58 and if he chose, could easily go elsewhere and tack on 200 more Ws in the next 15 years.

 

His record speaks for itself and I've always wondered if he's had this success with simple, every-year enrollment, where he works with the cycles of kids that are coming through year to year.
Or does he actively seek participants for his program?
Anybody out that way got info?
The record is astounding, and I've followed this program from afar.
Congrats to the coach on an amazing run at De La Salle.

 

They draw kids from far and wide -- they're a pretty good drive from Oakland, for instance, but draw quite a few from there. The most famous one is Amani Toomer, who spent his freshman year at Alabany High about 30 miles away and then transferred. Maurice Jones-Drew, from Oakland, went there and dominated Long Beach Poly. Joe Montana sent his kids there from a good distance away, until one of them got beaten out for the starting job and Joe sent him down to LA to find a spot.

 

Great quote:

"To stay on (to get one more win) would have been a lame thing to do,” Ladoucuer said. “What difference would it have made? I understand it is some sort of important weird number. But it doesn’t matter even though way down the road some people might think I died in mid-season."

 

The psycho school board in my ruby-red enclave would make a significant pitch as soon as our hot-shot coach (who has Cali experience) bolts for greener 5A pastures.

 

You're going to have to define "actively seek." Officially, he doesn't because you aren't supposed to be as active as a college program. But like noted above, kids will come see him. When you are that good for that long, you go there to get noticed and to play for the best. I am willing to bet, however, that there might have been a few kids who "bumped into" De La Salle coaches and got a friendly reminder of how good the team is.

Proving recruitment is almost impossible. Mater Dei just got busted because I think some players lived so far away from the school, it was just a bit obvious. Mater Dei sued CIF, but I haven't heard what came of it. That is the exception, however. I had one school have an ad actively seeking home school players and CIF wouldn't lift a finger.