State Coach of the Year: Gary Parcell

The 34th season for longtime Norco High baseball coach Gary Parcell didn’t end with a CIF Southern Section D1 title, but reaching the final in the toughest playoff bracket in the nation was enough for him to land top California coaching honors for the 2026 season. He’s just the second-ever State Coach of the Year in baseball from the Inland Empire. He also still gets “chills” about the efforts that some of his players still on the team took upon themselves to help him stay on the job from a situation that arose in 2024.

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Does a head coach have to win a CIF section title or a CIF regional title to become the Cal-Hi Sports State Coach of the Year? The answer for California baseball in the 2026 season is an emphatic NO.

There were a bunch of other reasons that carried Norco’s Gary Parcell to the state’s longest running coaching honor by far. First, the Cougars played in the toughest playoff bracket in the nation and made it to the championship game. They didn’t win, but they clearly had the best season in school history. Parcell also happens to be one of those coaches with a high number of years of success as he has more than 650 all-time wins in 34 seasons. Plus, he’s got a love for the game that is similar to other State Coaches of the Year we’ve talked to over the years who kept coaching into their 70s, including the late John Stevenson of El Segundo, Walter “Spud” O’Neil of Lakewood and Guy Anderson from Cordova of Rancho Cordova.

The only other coach on the all-time state list of honorees that dates back to 1933 is Ontario Chaffey’s Ken Proctor, who built that school into a powerhouse in the 1950s. He’s listed for the 1958 season.

“Thank you, I appreciate it,” Parcell said on Tuesday afternoon in a phone interview. “A lot of work was put into it by a lot of people.”

Parcell, 72, has no plans to hang up his coaching gear for the 2027 season, either.

“Obviously, we don’t do it for the money,” he said with a chuckle. “I’ve never been a teacher, but have just had a love for the game. You never know what can happen. I want to keep going.”

Norco entered the 2026 season expected to be among the top teams in the state, but had to start out behind Big VIII League rival Corona High even though the Panthers had three players chosen in the first round of the 2025 MLB Draft. Corona was the No. 1 team in the state in 2024 and was No. 2 in 2025 behind St. John Bosco of Bellflower. The Cougars’ expectations were built around the return of 2024 State Freshman of the Year Dylan Seward and 2025 State Freshman of the Year Jordan Ayala.

Parcell’s team posted its first major win of the season in early April in the Boras Classic for Southern California with a 3-2 win over St. John Bosco. The Cougars didn’t win the tourney, losing to Orange Lutheran in the final, but established themselves as one of the state’s top teams. That continued in a three-game series at the end of the month that decided the Big VIII League title. After Norco lost the first game, it won the next two and ended up 14-1 in league standings in beating its rivals for the league title. At one point, the team rose to stand at No. 1 in the state rankings for the first time in school history (with the softball team No. 1 in the state at the same time).

In the CIF Southern Section D1 playoffs, which were conducted for the first time with pools of four teams that made it possible for a team to lose in a pool play game but still not have the season end, the Cougars lost a pool play game to Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks. They won the next game against Ayala of Chino Hills, which set them up to play Orange Lutheran again. This time in the quarterfinals, though, Norco had the upper hand in a 3-0 win. Another avenging win aganst Notre Dame in the semifinals followed that, but in the title game the Cougars were held to just one hit by St. John Bosco’s Julian Garcia in a 2-0 defeat.

“Garcia was great, but my guy was good, too,” said Parcell referring to Ayala. “We had a double in the first inning and then a liner down the line that was foul by six inches. If we could have scored there, it might have been different.”

The season was over since the Cougars opted out of the CIF SoCal regional playoffs. They ended 28-5 and No. 2 in the final state rankings behind Bosco, which had the State Coach of the Year last season in Andy Rojo.

“This was probably the best group of kids that I’ve had in may career,” Parcell said. “Most of them came to us when they were freshmen. They took their lumps but stuck with me and stuck with it. And we’ll get a majority of them back for another year.”

Seward had a season in which he batted a team-leading .436 on 48 hits and belted a team-leading seven homers. Ayala batted .390 and had four homers and he had a 0.74 ERA. He wasn’t considered a sophomore by the end of the season, however, as he reclassified to the Class of 2027 (which is the same as Seward).

“Jordan and Dylan are both really good people and really good players,” their coach said. “Dylan is a leader by example. Jordan not only can hit and play the field, but he’s a helluva pitcher. We’ll be ready for next season. We’re hoping to get a bid for North Carolina (National High School Invitational).”

Other leading players who also should be back next season include catcher Cody Brown (.394), pitcher/infielder Jacob Melendez (six homers, 1.28 ERA) and outfielder Zion Martinez (39 hits, 27 runs scored). The team’s top senior was outfielder Marcus Blanton, who hit .371 on 36 hits.

Having a powerhouse in the same league and in a neighboring city has been a major factor in Norco’s rise.

“That’s always been our rival and it’s definitely made us better,” Parcell said. “I’ve told (Corona head coach) Andy Wise that he has made me a better coach. I had to be. He forced me to get better. They’ve just been that good.”

Some of those players from the Class of 2027 also were at the forefront of a situation from two years ago at the end of the season that nearly forced out Parcell from the head coaching position. According to numerous newspaper accounts at the time, the administration asked Parcell to sign a resignation letter. He declined. After it was reported by the Riverside Press-Enterprise, Los Angeles Times and others, Seward (then just a freshman) and other players created a firestorm of support for the longtime coach.

Seward wrote at the time on a social media post in support of his head coach: “This wasn’t just a job or coaching role for him, it was much more. He was a teacher and mentor to many generations of young men that came through Norco. He taught us how to play the game with integrity, accountability and respect not only for our team but others as well.”

Parcell is an off-campus coach. He always has been and retired within the past year from a long career working for the Riddell sports equipment company. He was never fired or lost his baseball coaching post as a result of the situation, but it’s been seen in other cases where an administration has a definite preference to have all of its main coaches also on staff as teachers.

“It made us a better team,” he said this week. “The kids rallied around me. You never really know what input you have on all these players for all these years but the input of support was unbelievable. I can’t even tell you how many letters from former players I got and that were sent in. It still gives be chills to think about it.”

Parcell’s career as a head coach began at Norco in 1979, then in 1990 he took over at Centennial of Corona when that school was just getting started. He stayed at Centennial for eight seasons. He didn’t serve as a head coach anywhere for the next few seasons, then in 2002 he went back to being the head coach at Norco and he’s been there ever since. He’s been joined for the entire ride with his wife of more 40 years, Michelle, and he said his baseball coaching helped his son, Garrett, become an agent. His daughter, Alyssa, is a dietician.

Parcell will take a career record of 656-422 into the 2027 season. With the retirement of Lakewood’s O’Neil and Sierra Canyon’s Tom Muesborn, the only CIFSS coach who is still active who has more wins than Parcell is Rick Weber of Calabasas Viewpoint. Two from the CIF Central Coast Section still going with 800 or more wins are Michael Groves of Monterey and John Diatte of San Jose Valley Christian.

Diatte’s team won the CIF NorCal D1 state title this season and would have been in the CIF state title game for D1 this season if it had been played. He couldn’t have been State Coach of the Year this time since he has been selected previously in his career and it’s a policy since the 1990s to never have a repeat winner. The CIF will have its first CIF D1 state final since 1921 after next season and still may have to adjust its calendar to get a lot of top teams like Norco, Harvard-Westlake and Orange Lutheran involved (although St. John Bosco has not opted out the past two seasons).

“We opted out because half the team was leaving that week for their summer teams,” Parcell said. “That’s what makes it tough. If it starts sooner, we’d love to be in it. As many seniors as we’re going to have next year with graduations and everything else, I just don’t know.”

That’s for next year, though. For now, it’s still about celebrating the 2026 season and that means a salute to the State Coach of the Year from Norco.

All-Time List Cal-Hi Sports
State Baseball Coaches Of The Year

2026 – Gary Parcell, Norco (28-5)
2025 – Andy Rojo,
Bellflower St. John Bosco (30-4)
2024 – Corrigan Willis,
Livermore Granada (32-1)
2023 – David Jeans, Concord De La Salle (27-5)
2022 – Benji Medure, Huntington Beach (25-9)
2021 – Jared Halpert,
Studio City Harvard-Westlake (30-4)
2020 – No selection (pandemic)
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

Note: Selections prior to 1980 made retroactively by our founder, the late Nelson Tennis. Coaches are only chosen once in their careers, which has never been a problem in such a great baseball state as California.

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