Schedule a bear, so LCC's Machado resigns
By: TERRY MONAHAN - Staff Writer | ∞
Ed Machado, who coached La Costa Canyon High to three consecutive CIF San Diego Section Division I girls volleyball championships, has resigned to get closer to another volleyball team.
Machado will now follow the UCLA women's volleyball team for the next four years. His daughter Jade will be a junior next season for the Bruins, who lost in the national semifinals this year. Machado's youngest daughter, Jaz, will be a freshman on the UCLA volleyball team next year.
Because of commitments coaching the Mavericks, Machado rarely saw Jade play the past two years.
"I've already missed most of Jade's first two years there,'' Machado said Friday. "A friend whose daughter plays another college sport said he never missed a game. He said if I missed out on it, I'd regret it.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I was stuck between really wanting to coach La Costa Canyon and watching Jade and Jaz play in college at UCLA.''
Replacing Machado won't be easy. In his four seasons, Machado directed the Mavericks to league titles in 2003, '05 and '06 along with the last three CIF titles. Jade was the team's senior setter when the CIF title run began. Jaz has set for La Costa Canyon the past two seasons.
This season, when the Mavericks were 34-4 overall, ended with a five-game loss at home in the CIF Southern California Regional finals to eventual state champion Los Alamitos.
Machado's record with the Mavericks is 125-23.
"We've won three straight CIFs and there are some great players coming up, so it's very disappointing to leave now,'' Machado said. "High school volleyball at LCC has been pure fun for me because I also got to watch my daughters play.''
Machado held out hope he could spend more time at Bruins games this fall, but when UCLA released it's upcoming schedule he realized that wouldn't be possible.
"I took a month off after the season to think about how I could do both, but when the schedule came out I knew what I had to do,'' Machado said. "Jade and Jaz are pretty thrilled about the decision.''
La Costa Canyon has advertised the position within the district
The coaching vacancy has been posted and will remain open within the district for two more weeks. At this time, applications from outside the district are not being accepted.
"This will be a high-profile hire because of the state of the program,'' athletic director John Labeta said. "It will be interesting to see how it unfolds.
"I was kind of expecting it once the season ended. After he saw UCLA's schedule, I knew this was coming.
"Now all we have to do is find the right person.''
Contact staff writer Terry Monahan at (760) 739-6648 or tmonahan@nctimes.com.
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