His situation has some deja vu for new Santa Maria High School football coach Dan Burns.

When he coached at West Hall High School in Gainesville, Ga., “There had been two new high schools built in the area, and that took a lot of our athletes,” Burns said at a Santa Maria spring practice Thursday, his first day with his new team.

At West Hall, “We got to three wins one year, but that was it,” said Burns. “It was hard.”

Pioneer Valley High School opened its doors in 2004, and Santa Maria's student and teaching population immediately sank.

Now, “The newness of Pioneer Valley has worn off, and parents want to send their kids back to Santa Maria,” said Burns.

“There are a lot of alumni from Santa Maria who are really hungry for winning football to come back here. We ‘re starting here with a three-year plan. We hope to get competitive, and then get some wins.

Burns said, “Every position here will be individually coached. Our assistants have a lot of experience in terms of, they've played a lot in the past.

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“One of my assistants, Mike Pope,” Burns said, looking toward Pope as he directed a drill, “played during the glory years here.” Pope was the school's first-year track and field coach in 2008.

Burns said, “We have some good skill position players. We're going to run the ball, run it, and then run some more. We have some very good players at the skill positions.”

The Saints' situation up front is a familiar one. “We're small, and we don't have much depth,” Burns said. “We'll probably have some guys playing both ways. But our guys are going to be ready to work. We really stress conditioning.”

Burns is the Saints' third coach in the last three seasons. Santa Maria went 2-8 last year. One of its wins was a forfeit.

The Saints haven't been to the football playoffs since 2001.

Santa Maria High School Athletic Director Ralph Baldiviez said, “This is a project - it will take some time to get this thing turned back round. There's the new stadium, and it will take some time to get things back on track.”

Baldiviez said, “The field and track are put in. We're putting in aluminum seating on the visitors side. There are still some things to be done - fencing, electrical stuff. It will definitely be ready for the next football season, though.”

A new SprinTurf playing surface and all-weather track were completed at Santa Maria recently.

Before he coached in Georgia, Burns, a Southern California native, coached for five years at Greenhill High School in Addison, located in suburban Dallas. His 2000 team won the Southwest Preparatory Conference championship, the only state football championship in the private school's history.

Burns said, “Charles Haley played there. That's pretty impressive - a player with five future (Super Bowl) rings came through there.”

Burns was an assistant coach at Santa Monica City College for a year before he came to Santa Maria. “I worked with the running backs and special teams,” said Burns. “Some very talented people have played there, people who have gone to the NFL - Isaac Bruce, Steve Smith, Chad Johnson.”

In Burns' college days, “I played for USC from 1976-78, tight ends and special teams,” Burns said.

“I played baseball, first base and third base.”

Baldiviez said, “We got Doug here in January with a temporary teaching position. The Santa Maria Joint Union High School District Board of Trustees approved Doug's hiring (Wednesday) night.

“I interviewed five people for the position, screened out about a dozen more.”

Burns said he is now a full-time physical education teacher at Santa Maria. “I had been hoping to get back to the college level, but there were no full-time teaching positions available.”

Burns said that under his Santa Maria football program, the linemen will, literally, come first.

“They'll be the first in line to get in the training room to get iced, the first to get on the bus, the first to go into the restaurants when we stop to eat,” Santa Maria's new coach said.

Sports writer Kenny Cress can be reached at 739-2237 or by e-mail to kcress@santamariatimes.com

May 16, 2008