With two weeks left in the regular season for high school football, it’s become clear there’s a large and growing list of candidates for coach of the year. They are considered based on exceeding expectations, winning championships or helping to engineer a program turnaround when no one saw it coming.

Let’s review the great coaching performances so far this season:

• Ray Fenton, Los Alamitos: The man looks so fit he could run around any stadium without breaking a sweat. Few expected the Griffins to be 8-0 at this point, let alone be in the running for a Southern Section Division 1 playoff berth. He’s molded a team of best friends into believing in themselves no matter the opponent. San Clemente and Mission Viejo are the only teams standing in the way of a 10-0 regular season.

• Terrance Whitehead, Crenshaw: When head coach Robert Garrett was placed on administrative leave before the season began, the Crenshaw grad and longtime assistant took over. Garrett helped train him, and Crenshaw is 7-1 going into a Coliseum League title decider against King/Drew on Friday. The Cougars have discipline, resiliency and are playing to make Garrett and his assistants proud.

  

  Crenshaw interim coach Terrance Whitehead speaking with quarterback Danniel Flowers.

  (Robert H. Helfman)

• Brad Vonnahme, Crespi: Who predicted the Celts would be 8-0 and headed to the Del Rey League championship in Vonnahme’s third season of a massive rebuilding job? He hasn’t brought in transfers, rather relying on players who start out as freshmen learning the game and move up. There’s a group of sophomores being developed who could be very good in the coming seasons.

• Jason Negro, St. John Bosco: The Braves have established themselves as the No. 1 team in California, if not the nation, while relying on an improving sophomore quarterback and four receivers headed to college success. He knows championships are won with the help of the offensive and defensive lines, and those are the areas to watch as the playoffs approach.

  

  St. John Bosco coach Jason Negro has his team ranked No. 1 in the nation.

  (Craig Weston)

• Jon Ellinghouse, Sierra Canyon: The Trailblazers are 8-0 and no one has come close to beating them. The season will be based on whether they can break through and disrupt the St. John Bosco-Mater Dei domination. Their defense is clearly the best in Southern California.
• Dylen Smith, Palisades: He lost his field, lost his weight room and nearly lost his team to the Palisades fire. And yet, the Dolphins have persevered and are 8-0 with players who stayed and a couple new ones who wanted to experience an adventure with no guarantee of success.
• Chad Johnson, Mission Viejo: With the Diablos (7-1) having wins over Santa Margarita, Folsom and San Diego Lincoln, Johnson challenged his team with a difficult nonleague schedule and they’ve met that challenge. He placed his trust in quarterback Luke Fahey, and don’t doubt how far this team can advance.
• Rick Clausen, Westlake: An assistant coach all his life, Clausen decided to accept the head coaching position even though his wife died of cancer. He’s somehow managed to balance parenting duties and coaching duties, helping a Westlake team go from 0-10 last season to 8-0 this season in his rookie year.
• Tony Henney, Dana Hills: Wherever Henney goes, he succeeds. He’s been head coach at Nordhoff, Trabuco Hills, St. Bonaventure and Westlake. He has Dana Hills at 8-0 going into a game on Friday against 8-0 Laguna Beach, whose own coach, John Shanahan, surrounded himself with an elite group of assistants, including former JSerra head coach Scott McKnight. The winner of the battle of the unbeatens might not be stopped the rest of the way.

• Kevin Hettig, Corona del Mar: With his team 8-0 and tough games ahead, Hettig has quietly and competently prepared the Sea Kings to stay focused and keep improving each week.

  

  Corona del Mar head coach Kevin Hettig, quarterback Brady Annett, and NMUSD superintendent Dr. Wesley Smith.

  (Don Leach/Staff Photographer)

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• Jason Miller, Leuzinger: Who loses his only quarterback who can pass and still keeps the team winning? Miller and the Olympians (6-1) are on the verge of ending Inglewood’s reign as a league champion by using 5-foot-8 Journee Tonga as his versatile offensive weapon and replacement quarterback.

• Mike Moon, Oxnard Pacifica: Moon is trying to get his always underrated 8-0 team to run the table in the Marmonte League. He’s helped develop junior quarterback Taylor Lee while managing rising expectations and winning close games.

  

  Mike Moon of Oxnard Pacifica has his team at 8-0.

  (Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

• Raymond Carter, Torrance: The former All-City running back at Crenshaw has his team at 8-0, beating local team after local team led by junior quarterback Gibson Turner, who has 20 touchdown passes.
• Mark Carson, Rio Hondo Prep: Year after year, Carson has Rio Hondo Prep ready to succeed. This year’s 8-0 start is no different. A challenge ahead will be playing in a tougher playoff division.
• Darryl Goree, Palm Springs: An 8-0 start has the Indians being the talk of town. Senior linebacker Koa Rapolla has been turned loose and is averaging 13 tackles a game.
• Rick Curtis, Crean Lutheran: Curtis figured out how to best use one of the best athletes in the Southland, quarterback/point guard Caden Jones, and it has led to an 8-0 record.

With the NFL trade deadline getting closer by the day, all eyes are on teams like the New Orleans Saints to see if they’re willing to sell off their stars to acquire draft picks for a potential rebuild. 

One of those stars is running back Alvin Kamara, but he made it clear what he would do if general manager Mickey Loomis were to trade him. Kamara said he and Loomis are on the same page, but in the unlikely event it does happen, he threatened to retire.

“If I was a GM, I guess I would go to the player and be like, ‘Hey, we’re trading you. Just to let you know.’ If Mickey comes down and says that, then I’ll go drink a piña colada somewhere,” Kamara told reporters recently.

As someone who knows Kamara quite well, Saints legend Drew Brees loved hearing that answer from his old running back. 

“Look, all of this is unfortunate and wouldn’t even be a topic if the Saints weren’t 1-6,” Brees told Fox News Digital, while discussing his flag football organization, Football ‘N’ America, partnering with Unrivaled Sports. “Immediately, when people think the season is ‘lost,’ or a high unlikelihood, all of a sudden you start dealing these pieces to get draft picks to build for the future. That term rebuilding, right? 

ALVIN KAMARA THREATENS RETIREMENT IF SAINTS TRY TO TRADE HIM: ‘I’LL DRINK A PIÑA COLADA SOMEWHERE’

“I know Alvin obviously, but for those who don’t know Alvin, I think you should read into his comments as he loves being a part of the New Orleans Saints, and he loves the city of New Orleans and loves the people. He doesn’t want to go anywhere. So, when the topic is broached with him, ‘Hey, what would you think about…’ He doesn’t want to go anywhere else. ‘This is my team, I want to play here in front of these fans.’ I just think that’s a testament to his loyalty and that’s kind of rare nowadays, to be honest with you. That should be celebrated more than anything.”

Kamara isn’t the only attractive Saints star in the building. Wide receiver Chris Olave is another name swirling in trade speculation, while players like defensive end Cam Jordan and linebacker Demario Davis could be viewed as trade candidates as well. 

Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints hands the ball off to Alvin Kamara of the New Orleans Saints in the fourth quarter against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field on Oct. 4, 2020, in Detroit, Michigan. (Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)

But Brees doesn’t like the thought of selling just because of what the record says. Having leaders like those in the locker room goes a long way. 

“I think the reaction for everybody, especially when you’re not winning, that something must be really wrong and who do we blame it on?” Brees explained. “Everybody seems to want dysfunction – makes for a better story. I would almost argue there’s a heck of a lot more dysfunction I know on some winning teams right now than there is on teams like the Saints, who are 1-6. 

“I think everybody loves the coach. I think the coach has really endeared himself to a lot of the team. They love playing for him despite the record, and I think we got guys who care about the organization, the city, the community. They love being a part of the team, they love being leaders on the team. They take real pride in it.”

Alvin Kamara and Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints look on against the Los Angeles Rams during the fourth quarter in the NFC Championship game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Jan. 20, 2019, in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)

Brees feels his former team is “close,” but they may still need to find their identity. The coach he mentions is new head coach Kellen Moore, who is a first-year head coach that New Orleans really likes. 

No one expected the Saints to turn around quickly this season, but Brees and others feel the pieces are in place, especially those like Kamara who want to remain in place to get the Saints back to their playoff ways. 

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Angels superstar Mike Trout testified Tuesday morning that he knew team employee Eric Kay had a drug problem but that pitcher Tyler Skaggs showed no signs of drug use.

Trout, a three-time American League Most Valuable Player, has played with the Angels his entire 15-year career and is under contract through the 2030 season. He was a teammate of Skaggs from 2014 to 2019, when the left-handed pitcher died in a Texas hotel room July 1, 2019, after snorting a counterfeit oxycodone pill that contained fentanyl, a powerful opioid.

Key, a former Angels communications director, was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison after being convicted in 2022 of providing the pills that led to the Skaggs’ overdose.

According to trial transcripts, Skaggs lawyer Daniel Dutko asked Trout about his reaction when he learned the next day in a team meeting that Skaggs had died.

“Cried,” Trout answered.

“You loved him like a brother,” the lawyer said as Trout nodded affirmatively. Trout added that he was unaware of any drug use by Skaggs.

Skaggs’ lawyer asked questions to elicit testimony from Trout that would humanize Skaggs, to establish that he was a valued teammate and friend. Trout said he and Skaggs were roommates in 2010 when both were 18 years old and playing for the Angels affiliate in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Trout, the highest-paid Angels employee making more than $37 million a year, attended Skaggs’ wedding in 2018.

Neither Dutko nor Angels attorney Todd Theodora asked Trout why he didn’t inform a team executive or human resources when he suspected Kay’s drug use.

Skaggs was found dead in his hotel room in Southlake, Texas, on July 1, 2019, before the Angels were scheduled to start a series against the Texas Rangers. The Tarrant County medical examiner found that in addition to the opioids, Skaggs had a blood-alcohol level of 0.12. The autopsy determined he died from asphyxia after aspirating on his own vomit, and that his death was accidental.

Trout’s testimony followed that of longtime Angels executives Tim Mead and Tom Taylor. Kay reported to Mead nearly his entire 23-year career and worked closely with Taylor, the team’s traveling secretary. Both men testified that they had no idea Kay was addicted to opioids or that Kay supplied Skaggs with drugs.

Skaggs’ widow, Carli Skaggs, and parents Debra Hetman and Darrell Skaggs are seeking $118 million from the Angels for Skaggs’ lost future earnings as well as compensation for pain and anguish, and punitive damages.

The Angels announcement that longtime former big league catcher Kurt Suzuki was hired as manager coincided with Trout’s testimony.