State Coach of the Year John Weber speaks to his team following one of its games early in the season. The team ended 31-3. Photo: Courtesy OC Sports Zone, photo by freelance photographer Fernando M. Donado.
Leader of program at Cypress that won CIF Southern Section Division I title completed 14th season at the school and has all of the other attributes of having built an elite program. He’s now the State Coach of the Year for 2019 and is the third in a row from Orange County. Before this streak, however, there hadn’t been one from OC since 1999.
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The postseason accolades have been coming fast and furious for head coach John Weber of the CIF Southern Section Division I champion Cypress High baseball team.
Last week, Weber was selected as the CIFSS D1 Coach of the Year and also was named as the Los Angeles Times Coach of the Year. We’ll now add another one: 2019 State Coach of the Year.
In all of the years of the Cal-Hi Sports State Coach of the Year honors, it’s sometimes preferred to look for someone else in these situations, and we also tend to look elsewhere if a particular region or county of the state has had the coach of the year in the previous season.
Weber has a daughter, Mia, who just graduated from high school and a son, Miles, who will be a freshman football player this fall. He and his wife, Gina, live in Long Beach. Photo: cypcenturions.com.
But despite Orange County having the last two State Coaches of the Year in baseball, Weber and what his team accomplished in 2019 was just too much. Cypress not only won the CIFSS D1 title, but completed a 31-3 record that has had the Centurions near the top of most national rankings. They finished No. 2 in the final Cal-Hi Sports state rankings behind 29-1 De La Salle of Concord, but as previously stated both teams, coaches of both teams and players on both teams are simply deserving of all of the attention they’re getting.
Weber follows 2017 State Coach of the Year Mike Gonzales of El Toro and 2018 State Coach of the Year Bob Zamora from Capistrano Valley of Mission Viejo as the 2019 choice. Zamora was one of the easiest choices ever since he hadn’t been picked before, since his team won the CIFSS D1 crown and he’s one of the winningest in state history. Gonzales didn’t quite have that type of longevity, but also was chosen after winning a CIFSS D1 title and for helping develop such MLB players as Nolan Arenado, Matt Chapman and Austin Romine.
Like Gonzales and Zamora (now retired), Weber has been one of the most respected baseball coaches in Southern California for many years. He just completed his 14th season at Cypress and early in this season he won his 300th game. This year’s team also won its seventh straight league championship in the Weber years and its second CIFSS title. That first championship came in 2013 in Division II with current MLB player David Fletcher (L.A. Angels) among the standouts. Fletcher visited with this year’s players prior to their appearance in the CIFSS D1 championship at Dodger Stadium.
Before coaching at Cypress, Weber was an assistant coach for 10 years at Santa Ana College and worked with that college’s longtime coach, Don Sneddon. Santa Ana won state junior college championships in 1995 and 1996 with Weber on the staff. The Centurions’ head coach also has experience coaching in the Alaskan summer league and in 2015 worked with the USA Baseball under-18 national team.
“I always thought when I left Santa Ana College in 2004 that I would never coach again and I ended up started coaching (at Cypress) in November of 2004 and I ended up taking the job in 2006,” Weber said in a recent interview with Tim Burt of the OC Sports Zone website. “I told my wife it would be five years and here we are just finishing our 14th year.”
Cypress was expected to have one of its strongest teams this season, but would have to compete in the more loaded CIFSS D1 bracket (as opposed to D2 for 2013). The preseason teams to beat were typical heavyweights like Orange Lutheran, Harvard-Westlake (Studio City) and Huntington Beach. La Mirada also was a preseason pick by many with its returning stars, such as junior pitcher Jared Jones and senior catcher Darius Perry.
Weber’s team, however showed it would be right near the top in the early games of the season, including wins over Orange Lutheran and La Mirada (with a loss to St. John Bosco). The Centurions ended up playing La Mirada again in the CIFSS D1 semifinals, a matchup that turned into an epic extra-inning 0-0 nail-biter. Cypress finally won in 12 innings on a walkoff hit by Peter Werth.
Pitchers Cameron Repetti (named as the CIFSS D1 player of the year because he also was one of the team’s leading hitters) and Brett Wozniak weren’t just brilliant against La Mirada. They also were untouchable in the final vs. Harvard-Westlake as Cypress won 2-0.
As Cypress baseball was having its championship moments, Weber was quick to point out the matching accomplishments of the Cypress softball team winning the CIFSS D2 title earlier that same day.
And like many others on the all-time list of state coaches of the year, Weber isn’t one to dwell too long on previous accomplishments.
“We’re going to be declining a bit because we have so many kids graduating,” he said to OC Sports Zone. “That motivates me a bit even more to put the uniform back on in nine months from now and get after it and coach these kids. I’m excited about that.”
Bob Zamora, last year’s honoree, is one of the winningest coaches in California history and got this sign when he won 700th game in 2016. Photo: CapoAthletics.com.
All-Time List Cal-Hi Sports
State Baseball Coaches Of The Year
2019 – John Weber, Cypress (31-3)
2018 – Bob Zamora, Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley (25-10)
2017 – Mike Gonzales, Lake Forest El Toro (27-7-1)
2016 – Gary Remiker, San Diego Cathedral Catholic (25-9)
2015 – John Donohue, San Francisco Lowell (25-8)
2014 – James Davis, El Cajon Granite Hills (26-7)
2013 – Jeff Carlson, Elk Grove (29-5)
2012 – Steve Vickery, Lakeside El Capitan (31-7)
2011 – John Goulding, Union City James Logan
(24-4)
2010 – Tom Donald, Clovis Buchanan (29-5)
2009 – Pete Jensen, San Mateo Serra (30-6)
2008 – Jeff Phillips, La Mesa Grossmont (29-7)
2007 – John Diatte, San Jose Valley Christian
(33-4)
2006 – Spud O’Neil, Lakewood (29-5-1)
2005 – Bill Hutton, San Jose Archbishop Mitty (28-6)
2004 – Rick Steen, Danville San Ramon Valley (25-8)
2003 – Justin Machado, Carlsbad La Costa Canyon (32-1)
2002 – Dave Currie, Santa Clara Wilcox (34-3)
2001 – Tom Muesborn, Chatsworth (31-2)
2000 – Harry Jenkins, Torrance West (29-2)
1999 – Joe Walters, Santa Ana Calvary Chapel (27-1-1)
1998 – James Patrick, Clovis (33-2)
1997 – Dave Brunell, Santa Maria St. Joseph (29-0)
1996 – Dennis Pugh, San Diego Mission Bay (29-5)
1995 – Dave Demarest, Westminster La Quinta (28-3-1)
1994 – Ron LaRuffa, Fountain Valley (27-3-1)
1993 – Mike Maio, Woodland Hills El Camino Real (24-2)
1992 – Dan Peters, Long Beach Millikan (22-5-1)
1991 – Jeff Meredith, La Mesa Grossmont (28-1)
1990 – Mickey McNamee, San Marino (23-2-1)
1989 – Sam Blalock, San Diego Mt. Carmel (25-2)
1988 – Chris Sims, Moraga Campolindo (24-5)
1987 – Don Ardissone, San Jose Bellarmine (26-7)
1986 – Mike Curran, Anaheim Esperanza (25-3-1)
1985 – Dave Perkins, Hanford (23-5)
1984 – Darryl Stroh, Granada Hills (16-2-1)
1983 – Larry Quirico, El Cerrito (27-1)
1982 – Jim Garrett, Tulare (21-5)
1981 – Guy Anderson, Rancho Cordova (28-8)
1980 – Mike Noakes, Fresno Bullard (29-2)
1979 – John Bachman, Covina (27-3)
1978 – Al Endriss, Larkspur Redwood (30-5)
1977 – Lou Zuardo, South S.F. El Camino (28-1)
1976 – John Herbold, Lakewood (22-4-1)
1975 – Jack Hannah, Fresno Hoover (29-2)
1974 – Jim O’Brien, Torrance North (26-6-1)
1973 – John Stevenson, El Segundo (30-5)
1972 – Hi LaValle, Compton Dominguez (22-4-1)
1971 – Denny Holt, Sepulveda Monroe (19-0)
1970 – Dan Bodary, Lompoc (27-1)
1969 – Bob Myers, Long Beach Millikan (21-6)
1968 – Bill Sandback, San Diego Crawford (21-7)
1967 – Marvin Wood, Torrance Bishop Montgomery (27-3)
1966 – Bill Cox, Oakland St. Elizabeth (23-5)
1965 – Al Exton, Arcadia (21-4)
1964 – Bob Zuber, Van Nuys Birmingham (18-1)
1963 – Bill Kelly, Redondo Beach Aviation (20-3)
1962 – Dick Sperbeck, Sacramento Bishop Armstrong (22-2)
1961 – Elmo Ferrari, Ojai Villanova (17-0)
1960 – Jake Abbott, Fresno Roosevelt (20-2)
1959 – Howard Johnson, Inglewood Morningside (20-6)
1958 – Ken Proctor, Ontario Chaffey (20-5)
1957 – Ollie Bidwell, Fresno (22-2)
1956 – Bill Ziegler, Eureka (18-0)
1955 – Bob Patterson, Vallejo (20-1)
1954 – Ed Grimm, Redding Shasta (14-0)
1953 – Charles Doyle, Compton (23-2)
1952 – George Powles, Oakland McClymonds (16-0)
1951 – Cliff Perry, Sacramento McClatchy (22-0-1)
1950 – Harry Brubaker, L.A. Dorsey (17-0*)
1949 – Al Kyte, Oakland Technical (8-2, League)
1948 – Len Porterfield, Santa Maria (16-2)
1947 – Cliff Meyer, Long Beach Wilson (20-3)
1946 – Walt Williams, San Jose (17-2)
1945 – Pop Elder, S.F. Mission (10-0, League)
1944 – Bob Fatjo, San Jose Bellarmine (13-2)
1943 – Les Haserot, L.A. Fremont (13-1)
1942 – Roy Engle, San Diego Hoover (13-0 vs. Prep Teams)
1941 – Ras Johnson, S.F. Galileo (12-1*)
1940 – George Wolfman, S.F. Mission (11-1*)
1939 – Dewey Morrow, San Diego (22-5)
1938 – George Sperry, Glendale
1937 – Bernie Baumeister, S.F. Commerce (12-2, League)
1936 – Lyle Kinnear, Long Beach Polytechnic (23-2)
1935 – Ed Combatalade, Sacramento (20-1)
1934 – Myles Regan, L.A. Cathedral (13-5-1)
1933 – Kit Carlson, Santa Maria (9-1)
*League and playoff record
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
