trigueiro out at washington union

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SoCalHoops High School News

Larry Triguiero Out As Coach At
Fresno Washington Union--(Feb. 16, 2000)

We just received word from some of our friends up in Fresno that Larry Trigueiro, the first year coach at Fresno Washington Union, has either resigned, or he was asked to resign, effective yesterday. He will be replaced by Peter Sharkey and Ron Moore. Sharkey, who coached the Fresno Hoover girls' team for 12 years before resigning after the 1997 season, has been named Washington's interim coach. Moore, who coached the Hoover boys for 14 seasons before resigning at the conclusion of last season, will be an assistant, along with Washington Union's junior varsity coach Kevin Harris.

No official comment on the reason for the change was announced by the school other than to say "The Washington Union High School administration is confident in Coach Sharkey's ability to redirect the basketball program in a manner consistent with the principles of competition, sportsmanship and character which have been the foundation for long-term success." Washington Union principal John Pestorich would not give specifics, referring instead to the mention of competition, sportsmanship and character in the press release.

The Panthers, No. 6 in the state in Division 3, are 9-0 in the North Sequoia League going into tonight's regular-season finale at Chowchilla and 14-10 overall.

Trigueiro has been under fire almost since the beginning of the season from the local fans and media, mostly as a result of the surprisingly bad results the team had during some of the December tournaments, where the Panthers had been expected to dominate. Washington Union features De Shawn Stevenson (6'-5" Sr. SG/SF), one of the top 5 players in the country, who signed with Kansas in the early signing period. Things went from bad to worse in January, and seemed to reach a low point when, at the Pump Hoop Challenge, the Panthers were blown out by Bishop Montgomery and the Craven twins in what had been anticipated to be a dry run for the Division III Southern Regional Final game; Washington won by more than 30 points, and while Stevenson scored well, the team ran no offense, and there was little semblance of order, as Washington fans called for the coach's head from the stands.

But an even more bizzare incident occurred at the end of January involving Trigueiro: In what he told the papers later was an attempt to get "any advantage we could" in an upcoming game with Clovis West, and in an apparent effort to have the Clovis West coaches believe that De Shawn Stevenson was injured and would not be able to play due to an ankle injury, Trigueiro admitted to reporting an incorrect box score to the paper, which intentionally omitted the 8 points that had been scored by Stevenson in the game being reported. When the opposing coach called in the score the next day, the ruse was discoverd, and Trigueiro was questioned by Washington Union administrators. Triguiero said, "The part about the box score was a pretty poor error in judgment. It was just a bad judgment call on my part. I was just trying to get any little advantage we could against Clovis West."

There are more complete reports on this in the Fresno Bee for those interested. Check in the "High School Sports" section.