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Elijah Asante was 20-9 in his two seasons as the Colts head coach and went to the LA City Section Championship Game two years in a row



@RHaylock

Rahshaun Haylock comes to FOX Sports West after reporting for KCBS2/KCAL9 and TxtStation Operator. In addition, he began reporting for the station's website as the host of the Carl's Jr. FanCam, interviewing fans before Lakers' and Dodgers' home games.

December 24, 2011



It's Christmas Eve and Elijah Asante is enjoying the ambience.

Not of presents, and trees, and Santa Claus, but of his new job.

Asante has been named the new head coach at Santa Fe Springs St. Paul.

"It's a great opportunity as far as it being a program with a rich history and tradition of being dominant. They love football here," said Asante. "If you come and you look at the infrastructure of what they have setup around their football team, it's (great) for a coach like myself to come here and try to take the team back to the heights that they once were."

As he gets acclimated to his new surroundings, he takes a walk down the dirt track on campus, in the shadows of the grandstand of the St. Paul on campus field.

The path leads him to the St. Paul practice field, which also triples as the baseball outfield and the practice field for soccer.

It looks like a scene from a 60's football movie. The grass field has dirt patches spread throughout. There's old, rusty, football practice equipment that's worn down and battered.

None of that matters much to Asante who has a smile from ear to ear. He loves his new digs.

Immediately sticking out is a giant wooden tower, which has a clock on it, indicating the practice period and time. The tower overlooks the entire practice field, strikingly tall, standing at least 20 feet above the field, directly to the left of an old, H-shaped goalpost. There's a platform at the top where practice is filmed.

"He was really ahead of his time," Asante says as he points at the tower, speaking of his predecessor Marijon Ancich, who just concluded his third tour of duty with the school.

Most people wouldn't resign from a school fresh off the heels of taking them to back to back CIF Finals appearances. Most people wouldn't want to replace a coaching legend. Most people wouldn't want the responsibility of reviving a once proud program.

Most people aren't Elijah Asante.

Just a week after resigning his post as the Carson head coach, Asante finds himself in that exact position at St. Paul.

Ancich is second on California's all time wins list with 360, only trailing De La Salle's Bob Ladoceur. Ancich won three CIF titles (1968, '72, '81).

For Asante, who also has a law degree from USC, it's about the challenge. How else could you explain scheduling, Long Beach Poly, Santa Margarita, and Mission Viejo in consecutive weeks as he did in his last season at Carson.

"I felt like I did all I could do at Carson. We went (to the LA City Section Championship Game) two years in a row and it was just time for a move. There was some issues there with the teaching and stuff like that, so this was a better fit for me," said Asante, who was 20-9 in his two seasons as the Colts head coach.

Asante will be a full time teacher at St. Paul and contends there is no ill will towards Carson. Financially, the Carson job didn't sit right with him. Without a full time teaching position, Asante was a substitute from time to time.

He now moves to the Southern Section for the first time as a head coach. At St. Paul, the challenge will be lifting the program back to a level it once was. Despite finishing 7-3 last season, the Swordsmen missed the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season in 2011, finishing fourth in the tough Mission League.

He has a starter returning at quarterback, Paul Telles, and someone to protect him at left tackle in Cristian Garcia, who is one of the top players in the area. Garcia came to campus to visit his new head coach on Saturday, walking into the coaches meeting room inside the Marijon Ancich Field House.

"I was never allowed to come here," said Garcia. "I'm just shocked I'm standing in here right now."

It's fair to say things will change around St. Paul under Asante's watch. Under Ancich, not only were players not allowed to go inside the coaches meeting rooms, but on the field there were strict rules. No visors, no spat on their cleats, and only all-black cleats were to be worn.

It was an issue for Garcia trying to find all-black cleats in a size 17. He often had to spray paint them. Safe to say he may not have that problem anymore.

"I believe if you look good, you play good," said Asante.

It's a new day at St. Paul.


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