California High School’s boys basketball team, including head coach Joel Simonds and other school officials, celebrate the CIF title. (Photo courtesy Kaylee Closson).
Former Orange County high school coach Joel Simonds celebrated a major milestone Saturday, leading his California High School boys basketball team to the program’s first CIF championship.
Simonds and his players were jumping for joy and a large contingent of California fans were cheering as the final seconds clicked down in California’s 63-47 victory over Citrus Hill in the CIF Division 4A championship game at Edison High School in Huntington Beach. It was the highlight of Simonds eight years as the coach of the program from Whittier.
Almost fittingly, it happened in his own backyard so to speak. He and his wife Jenn have been residents of Huntington Beach since 1999.
Simonds coached at his alma mater Saddleback High School from 2014 to 2017. He was at Bethel Baptist as the head coach from 1999 to 2013, where his teams won two league titles and made two trips to the quarterfinal round of the CIF playoffs.
“In 14 years, I think we were in the playoffs 10 times,” Simonds said. “I served as an assistant at Ocean View from 2013 to 2014.”
Saturday’s trip to the CIF finals was the first for Simonds and the first for the California program.
This California team stood out above them all.
“I think what it means to the school is that it proves to kids at Cal that we can be successful, that we can overcome obstacles and that hard work makes a difference,” Simonds said Monday. “I think that sometimes we have a tendency to crumble under pressure, especially against our rival La Serna. I’m talking about all sports, not just basketball.
“There’s always the thought that eventually they’re going to beat us. This sets the example that we can come up big in big moments and get the job done. Hopefully we can inspire other teams to do the same.”
In the championship game, sophomores and seniors led the way for the Condors.
Sophomore Aham Nwosu had 17 points and seven rebounds, senior Kenny Renfrow had 15 points and three rebounds, senior Edgar Beltran had eight points, five rebounds, seven assists and five steals and sophomore Jair Linares had 10 points, four rebounds, two assists and three steals to lead the Condors.
“We have six sophomores on the team, so it’s been a lot of growing pains along the way,” Simonds said. “But to have so many contributions from the young guys makes it fun to not only enjoy this year, but look forward to our future as well.”
The team also recorded playoff victories over San Jacinto (83-58), Laguna Hills (74-71), Chino (66-64) and Alhambra (81-61).
Simonds was joined in a post-game press conference by Linares, Renfrow, Nwosu and Beltran. The coach emphasized how proud he was of his players, and stressed how the team was like a family, battling through ups and downs.
Simonds, a social science teacher, took over a struggling program at California.
“When I arrived here, they had suffered through two straight 0-10 season in league,” he said. “They had lost the last 13 games in 2017, so there was a lot of losing in the culture. My last Saddleback team beat Cal that season by 18, as a matter of fact. Getting the program going and reaching this pinnacle is almost unbelievable.”
The team started to make progress when Simonds arrived.
“We’ve been in the playoffs all eight years and made the quarterfinals in 2019 before we lost to Fairmont Prep,” he said. “We won 20 games last year so I thought it was the year to make a run at it, but we struggled on the road at Rancho Mirage in round two.”
Simonds also helped to turn around the Saddleback program, leading the team to a CIF playoff appearance in 2014, ending a post-season drought.
“I am a Saddleback alum, class of 1991, so I believed that I’d stay at Saddleback for 20 years to finish my career. God had other plans and the job opened up at Cal, which included a teaching position,” he said. “The chance to coach and teach at the same place was what drew me to the job, having been a walk-on coach for all those years. I taught middle school in Westminster for 18 years. That opportunity was not going to materialize at Saddleback for various reasons.”
In his earlier days, Simonds also tried out for basketball at Saddleback High School.
“I’m just a guy from Santa Ana who got cut in high school; if you remember the mid-late 80s, Saddleback was really good,” he said. “And I wasn’t, I’d have cut me too.”
But he went into coaching and “found a great opportunity and it’s worked out better than I had a right to imagine.”
Simonds said he has received plenty of support from his wife, Jenn. They both grew up in Santa Ana.
“She is also a teacher, currently at Capistrano Valley Christian,” he said. “We have been married almost 31 years. Our daughter is 30 and our granddaughter is almost one. I know she’s (his wife) my biggest fan and my best supporter.
“Jenn didn’t know she was marrying a coach when we got married. We were very young, I was 20, she was 19 and I didn’t get into coaching until a few years later. So she definitely didn’t know what she was getting into.
“Despite all that, she has been so supportive. She lives and dies with me. She teaches in San Juan Capistrano and I teach in Whittier. It can take her 90 minutes to get to Whittier, so she doesn’t make it to a lot of games. That said, if she does come and the game is close she sometimes will leave the game because she stresses out watching me and the team fight and work so hard and not wanting to see us lose.
“She sees things from a little different perspective and sometimes has to talk me down, but has such a gentle way of helping me see things differently. I’m much more reactive, so she definitely balances me out. I couldn’t have picked a better partner to experience this journey with.”
California’s season continues Tuesday in the CIF Division IV State Regional. No. 15 seeded California plays at No. 2 Fairfax (11-16) in the opening round.
For best view, click on the photo:
PHOTO: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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