Todd Therrien is no longer the head coach at St. Bonaventure, FOXSportsWest.com has learned.
St. Bonaventure principal Marc Groff told the Ventura County Star Therrien is no longer the school's head coach because of a "personnel matter." The news was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.
Therrien could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
Groff, along with athletic director John Muller, met with players and parents before the team's practice on Wednesday evening. It was at that point, Muller was named the interim head coach for the 2013 season.
As for Therrien no longer being the head coach, Muller said the news was received by players and parents with "mixed" reaction but there were some hurt feelings.
"They were mad," Muller said describing the reaction of some of the Seraphs players. "They were upset.
"Todd is a good coach and those guys knew it but we need to move on. We need to keep going forward. We got a game in six weeks. We're still going to be playing out there so let's move forward and get going."
Muller, like most of the high school football world, says he didn't see Therrien's removal coming. The thought around the school was that they'd likely lose Therrien to a college job one day, but to his knowledge, Muller says that isn't the case in this situation. Therrien no longer being the head of the St. Bonaventure program continues to be a "personnel matter" a little more than 24 hours since the news broke.
Muller says he would like to be the head of the St. Bonaventure program for years to come, but the goal right now is to tackle the immediate future.
"The plan right now is to get through December," said Muller, who will continue to coach the Seraphs offensive line.
The Seraphs open camp on Aug. 5.
Last season, St. Bonaventure went 11-2 and won the inaugural Marmonte
League Championship game. Their season ended in a home playoff loss to
Mater Dei in the PAC-5 semifinals.
If there is a silver lining, the Seraphs can look to south Orange County. In 2011, San Clemente was in a similar situation losing it's head coach less than three weeks before the start of the season. The Tritons athletic director and offensive line coach, Jon Hamro, became the interim coach and they made it all the way to the PAC-5 finals.
Therrien is considered one of the bright, young coaches in the CIF-Southern Section. He was a player and an assistant under Jon Mack on the St. Bonaventure teams that dominated Ventura County to the tune of seven CIF Southern Section titles.
After Mack's departure to Ventura College, Therrien took over the program and it didn't miss a beat.
Therrien became the first coach to win back-to-back state championships in the modern era. In his six seasons as head coach, he was 72-10 on the field and was twice named Northern Division Coach of the Year.
