Mike Sciacca
It's has been a bittersweet week for Shawn Patchell.
As he finished his last day Thursday by helping run the Boys and
Girls Volleyball Clinics at Laguna Beach High, Patchell found himself
holding court in Dugger Gym one last time.
For the past six years, he has roamed the sideline as head coach
of the school's boys' and girls' volleyball programs. Next month,
though, a new coach, Curt Hanson, will run the show.
That's because Patchell has accepted a position as an assistant
coach with the men's volleyball program at his alma mater, Brigham
Young University in Provo, Utah.
Patchell, his wife, Davis, and three daughters, ranging in age
from three months to six years, have already packed up their Aliso
Viejo home and are heading for Provo.
"I've thought about a lot of things these past few weeks and I
know I'm going to miss this," Patchell said of his time spent at
Laguna Beach High. "This is an opportunity at BYU that I could not
pass up. In a way, I'm going home."
After graduating from Irvine High, where he played baseball and
basketball, before dropping baseball to play volleyball his junior
year, Patchell went to BYU to play basketball, but ended up on the
volleyball court.
It was a good move for him -- and the Cougars -- as Patchell, a
middle blocker, was named an Academic All-American his junior year.
He also led the country in hitting percentage that same year.
As a senior, BYU, at one point in during the 1993 season, was ranked fourth nationally.
It was also there where he met his future wife, Davis.
"Provo holds a lot of special memories for me, as does Laguna
Beach," he said.
Following a pro volleyball career that saw him play overseas for a
season in Spain on the Canary Islands, Patchell returned to the U.S.
and worked on his teaching credential. He got that credential, along
with a master's degree in English literature, from UC Irvine.
He first began teaching at Irvine and coached the Vaqueros girls'
varsity basketball team. By chance, that team was playing in a
tournament at Laguna Beach, against Laguna Beach. He says it was then
that he heard of an opening for the boys' volleyball program.
He was hired as the Artists' boys' head coach and coached at
Laguna Beach for one year, while still teaching at Irvine.
"I don't think they were thrilled with that setup at Irvine," he
chuckled.
Patchell soon was at Laguna Beach full time and eventually took
over the girls' volleyball program, as well.
"He had tremendous success here," Laguna Beach Athletic Director
