berokoff hired

socalogo.gif (8739 bytes)
SoCalHoops High School News

Mark Berokoff Hired At
Calvary Chapel Downey--(Sept 26, 2000)

We're not certain what happened to Mark Gruman, the former head coach at Calvary Chapel Downey, but he's apparently now gone, and hired to replace him is Mark Berokoff, the former head coach for the last two years at Heritage Christian aka "Eastside Christian" a small division V-AA school which went to the Southern Section finals last season, only to lose to eventual State Division V Champions, Price HS. Mark called us this morning and confirmed that he had taken the job and we want to extend to him our congratulations.

Mark was the youngest head coach of a high school team last year in Orange County, and this year the same he's likely still the youngest at just 26 years old. Prior to coaching at Heritage the past three seasons where he compiled a 50-28 record, Berokoff coached at Sonora HS, where he coached the sophomores. Berokoff has also been a club coach with the Rockfish organization for the past five years or so, but his duties with them may have to slightly change, if only slightly, at least for the foreseeable future (i.e., the rest of this fall and likely into next spring) because the Rockfish also hold fall workouts for some of their players, and one such player is Tim Drisdom (6'-3" Jr. PG/SG) last year's Southern Section Division V-AA 'Player of the Year" who also happens to attend Calvary Chapel Downey.

Strictly speaking, a coach isn't even supposed to be in the same gym with any of his players except during a scheduled P.E. class during the school day (not before or after school, nor on weekends), but Rockfish may be able to handle this easily: Berokoff does not coach the team on which Drisdom plays, and as long as the fall workouts take place at two different gyms, and the coach and player aren't in the same gym at the same time, all will be well, at least as we read the CIF Blue Book.

For Berokoff, and the players, the Calvary Chapel job is really a great opportunity. Not only is it an excellent school with some very good players, including Drisdom, but it's also an opportunity for Mark to coach the team which many feel will be the odds on favorite this season to challenge for a Southern Section title in D-VAA (they lost last year to St. Anthony), and also the team most likely to give other D-VAA schools statewide (e.g., El Cajon Christian, Price, Laton, etc.) a run for the State title. Only time will tell if they can do it, and from what we saw of the Price players this past weekend in their game against Pump N Run (a game which was almost too close for comfort at times), Price could once again be the favorite in the division statewide.

In the meantime, we want to extend our warmest congratulations to Mark Berokoff and to Calvary Chapel Downey.