Aron Kaye, who coached at Godinez and Irvine, joins Uni as defensive coordinator

University’s new defensive coordinator Aron Kaye coaches his players Wednesday. (Photos courtesy Harrison Zhang, For OC Sports Zone)

Former Irvine High assistant coach Aron Kaye has a new place to coach, and it’s not far from where he worked the last four years.

Kaye has moved across the town to help out new University Coach Chris Hernandez and he seems excited about his new job.

To see the slide show, please click on the first photo

After Erik Terry resigned as Irvine’s head coach last season, school officials began their search for a new coach and Kaye, the former head coach at Godinez, was not sure what was in store.

“I didn’t know what was happening there yet and they hadn’t named a coach and Chris made me a pretty good offer to come over and be the defensive coordinator and better I take what I know because they just hadn’t hired anyone,” Kaye said Wednesday at practice.

Kaye knew Scott Morrison, the head coach at Santiago Corona and he had high recommendations for Hernandez, who used to coach at the school.

Kaye was an assistant at Irvine High the last four years and was co-defensive coordinator last season with Gabriel Cota.

“It was fun, my kids (Richard, a football and basketball player and Lauren, a swimmer) went there so I know all those guys so well and Coach Terry is such a good guy,” Kaye said.

These days, Kaye is getting used to his new team at University and has been impressed so far.

“We have a group of kids who want to learn and want to get better and show great hustle,” Kaye said. “The great thing about defense is if you start running around and flying to the ball, you can overcome a lot of things. We’ve got a lot of guys who want to fly around and want to learn. We’re excited.”

Kaye, who was the head coach at Godinez for eight years, is also working with three of his former players: Luis Ahumada, Aaron Raya and Oscar Solano.

“It’s a blast for me to be with them,” said Kaye, who still teaches at Godinez. “They are assistant coaches and wanted to be part of it; they loved what we were doing at Godinez. Oscar and Luis coached at Irvine the past couple of years and Aaron played at Laverne and is done and wants to get into coaching and teaching.”

Hernandez, the University head coach, said he’s excited to have Kaye on his staff.

“I’m really lucky when Erik Terry resigned when he did.” Hernandez said. “He was at Irvine, he knows the league and for me, this being my first head coaching position, it’s great to have Aron in.

“He’s been a great help. He’s been able to give me a lot of guidance and wisdom on how to do things. Also, he’s been at programs that started from the ground up like Godinez and that’s my approach going in anyway. The nice thing is that I trust him and he has great recommendations from other people.

“My hope is that he will be with us for a few years and be a head coach again somewhere.”

Undoubtedly, Hernandez will be relying on Kaye when University faces Irvine, led by new coach Tom Ricci, in a Pacific Coast League game on Oct. 18 at Irvine Stadium.

“I’ll know every kid on the field, it’s one of those weird games where I will know everybody,” Kaye said. “They’re great kids. That’s the thing I love about coaching, 99 percent of the time you’re dealing with just great kids and it makes it fun watching kids grow and learn and get better.”

-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com