Ten questions with George Hurley

HE'LL ALWAYS BE 'COACH'- George Hurley spent 35 years as a football coach at Newbury Park High.

The Thousand Oaks Acorn recently sat down with Newbury Park High's athletic coordinator George Hurley following his decision to retire as head coach of the NPHS football team following 19 seasons on the job.

During his tenure as head coach, Hurley's teams compiled a 130-81-2 all-time record, won six Marmonte League titles and brought the 1993 CIF Division III championship to Newbury Park.

Q: If you could coach any NFL team, which one would it be?

Hurley: The San Diego Chargers; they're my team. I've watched them since the 1960s, and I went to one of their games when they were an AFL team and they played in the AFL Championship against the Buffalo Bills. Lincoln, Lowe, Alworth, Big Cat, Earl Faison- all of them. They've always been my team.

Q: Who's the best player you ever coached against?

Hurley: Oh my goodness, there are so many of them. A lot of them kicked our butt. I'd have to say Clint Strozier from Oxnard. He was a running back who went to USC. Probably some of the quarterbacks, too. Joe Borchard from Camarillo was one of the best.

Q: What will you do with all your free time now?

Hurley: I have no idea. I'm too slow to chase women around. I can't fish. I can't golf. I don't know. I'm getting involved in this job here at school, so this will take up some time. But I've never had a summer off since 19-whatever. I started playing in 1962 and ever since then I've been a football player, coach, whatever. I don't know what I'm going to do.

Q: Where's the best place to eat in Newbury Park?

Hurley: I like In-N-Out for fast food. The Alamo is a nice place, too.

Q: What's the best book you've ever read?

Hurley: I'm reading some Larry McMurtry stuff now, "Lonesome Dove" and those types of series. I'm a history buff. I've also got a lot of Civil War stuff I'm reading- cowboys and Indians, Old West, that sort of stuff.

Q: Who's the most competitive person you know?

Hurley: It might be (NPHS defensive coordinator) Jack Willard.

Q: What's your idea of a perfect day?

Hurley: The perfect day would be a game day. I hate days when you have days off during game days. I like to get up, go to school, take care of business and have our meeting.

Then everything goes right. The bus shows up on time. The bus driver doesn't give you a pain in the rear. You get to the place and there's a guy to open the locker room door- everything works.

I don't know if the best game is where we just play our game and win 40-0 or if some kid that never played before catches a pass with two seconds left for the game-winner.

It's a good day as long as things go the way our plan was, everyone gets to play, everyone's happy and (they) talk nice to me on "Friday Football Focus."

Q: It's fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line against Thousand Oaks on the last snap of the game. What play do you call?

Hurley: We've got a couple of pass plays we like. We're going to throw the ball. We're not going to run the ball most of the time unless we've got a great back, like Chris Brown this year. We're liable to run 'Atlanta.' It's a pass pattern we run where we cross receivers.

Q: High school is better than coaching in the pros because?

Hurley: Oh God, it's so much better. First of all, even if you work 100 hours per week you won't be close to what college and pro coaches do.

Here we work with 16- and 17-year-olds. We're developing athletes and developing human beings. At that level, it's just about money. It's a business. It's not fun anymore.

We even get kids who go to college who come back and say football isn't fun anymore. It's work in college. You're getting paid $25,000 a year in tuition, so you better win some games because that coach with a family is going to get thrown out of his job if they don't win games. High school football is just fun.

Q: What will you miss most about coaching high school football?

Hurley: I don't know yet. Friday nights, I'm sure. Summer passing leagues, those are fun, those are something. I'm going to miss those. And Friday nights.

As told to Stephen Dorman.