Norco Football

Norco coach knew how to raise kids

11:39 PM PST on Saturday, January 17, 2004

Column By Jerry Soifer / The Press-Enterprise  NORCO - Gary Campbell was a great football coach because he was a genius at life.

His insight into the minds and moods of teen-agers was probably more important to his success than his skill at diagramming X’s and O’s on a chalkboard. In Norco’s 2003 season opener against Upland, Campbell sensed a faltering resolve in his players when they let a 14-7 halftime lead slip away. Norco lost, 30-14.

He said the players let their minds linger on their good plays instead of focusing on the next play.

“It was a constant thing in practice,” Campbell said. “It’s not what you did the last time. It’s what you’re going to do on the next play.”

The Cougars made so many good plays the rest of the season, they celebrated 12 straight wins and a Mountain View League title. The year was highlighted by come-from-behind wins over Corona Centennial, Corona, Hemet and Temecula Chaparral. Norco did not have enough speed to rally in the CIF championship game and lost to Riverside North, 50-7. The game was Campbell’s last in 34 years of coaching at Norco. His retirement was announced Jan. 5.

Campbell’s teams won or shared 10 league titles. They played in six CIF division finals, winning three. Campbell finished with a record of 279-115-4 at Norco. His last 17 teams made the playoffs.

Campbell’s coaching longevity was due to his skill at balancing teaching, coaching and family life. Campbell did not hang up his clipboard like many expected after his team went 28-0 in 1992-93. Instead, he devised a division of labor with defensive coordinator Reiny Klein and offensive coordinator Alan Krueger so Campbell could follow his son, Steve, who was a quarterback at Arizona State.

Gary Campbell will retire to a home in Arizona near where Steve, 28, is the head coach at McClintock High School in Mesa.

Steve said as a coach’s son he was going to love football or hate it. He loved it. He is one of many former Norco players — including Centennial mentor Matt Logan — to go into coaching.

Gary Campbell, a two-way lineman at Northern Arizona, was a maestro at developing quarterbacks. Steve was one of four all-Riverside County quarterbacks to play for Norco. The others were Chris Kruswicki, Kyle Wachholtz and Andy Whieldon.

I started covering Norco football in 1979. I’ve kidded Campbell that my favorite season was 1985, when Kruswicki threw for a school record 2,663 yards as Norco went 10-3. Campbell said his team threw the ball that much that year because he didn’t have a great offensive line. All other years, Norco was a run-oriented team.

Campbell knew the staple of his program would have to be the offensive line because most of the students at Norco were not blessed with great speed and athleticism. Campbell found the tall guys on campus, talked many into coming out for football and turned them over to Krueger, who honed many into college prospects. Fourteen earned scholarships, including Pat Harlow, a 1987 graduate who went on to become a second-team, all-American tackle at USC and an eight-year veteran of the NFL.

Beyond the skills and the strategy, Campbell’s aim was to fill his team with tough guys, iron-willed players who could persevere through pain and fatigue. Campbell’s quarterbacks did not wear red — do not touch — jerseys in practice. It sometimes proved costly. He lost Brian Benz for the 1987 playoffs when Benz was hurt in practice.

Shay Muirbrook, a 1992 Norco graduate, was so tough he went from being a lightly recruited linebacker to the defensive MVP of the 1997 Cotton Bowl for BYU.

Campbell’s sense of values seemed unique. He never let his teams run up the score. He said preserving the dignity of the opposing players was more important than any records his own players might set.

After Norco upset Corona, 20-0, in the 1994 CIF semifinals, Campbell wrapped his arms around tearful Panther Ryan Darr, a family friend, and told him he had next year. Stu Penter, the late Corona softball coach, said Norco won that 1994 playoff game because of one person, Gary Campbell.

Campbell was one of those rare people who find their niche in life. A lucrative offer from Corona did not tempt Campbell to leave Norco in early 1990s. He said he never had any intention of leaving.

Campbell fractured the language frequently but there was often wisdom in his words.

“He etched a seat in our stands,” Campbell said of Norco booster Paul Chastain during his losing battle against cancer in 1989. Chastain was loyal to Norco even after Campbell had kicked his son, Charlie, off the team for being unable to control his temper in 1981. Nowadays many parents blame the coach if anything bad happens to their son.

Charlie came back to be a valued assistant coach to Campbell. In 1998, Charlie’s son, Chuck, quarterbacked Norco to the CIF Division 5 title. The Chastains were two of numerous father-son combinations to play for Norco, including Todd and Toby Gerhart.

“The family tradition has made it all worthwhile,” Campbell said.