Coaching Is Still in Barnett’s Blood : Football: Even though he has left full-time job at Trabuco Hills for the restaurant business, he’s not giving it up entirely.

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA —  For those who think Jim Barnett’s swan song as a high school coach will be leading the South team in the 36th Orange County North-South charity football game July 14, think again.

Barnett, 49, the first and only football coach at Trabuco Hills High School until he resigned in January, isn’t entirely through with that part of his life, even though most of his time now is spent running a sports bar and grill he opened here two years ago.

At the moment he did not want to keep dividing his attention.

“The restaurant takes quite a bit of time, and it wasn’t fair to the kids for me to be at practice wondering what the Monday Night Football special is going to be,” Barnett said.

He left Trabuco Hills--unhappy with the Southern Section’s decision to move the program from Division VIII to Division I--but still plans to volunteer with the school’s freshman team.

Barnett admits he probably would go back to full-time coaching if the right offer comes along.

That’s the key. The right offer. Daily’s--a 55-seat saloon bathed in blues, greens and blacks that features a CD jukebox, four televisions and sports paraphernalia from pro and college teams--has built a steady enough following that Barnett plans to double its occupancy.

It feels good to have guessed right on such an enterprise.

“When we started having some success with the football program, we started going to these pizza places after the games, kids, parents and coaches,” Barnett said. “I like a beer after coaching the game and I never felt completely comfortable having the kids around. It never caused a problem, but I wasn’t comfortable.

“But all there was around here was big restaurant types or pizza places. The first year I coached [1968] at Lakewood, I had a quarterback named Mike Rae [who later played with USC and the Raiders]. We kept in contact, and when he got done with pro ball he was looking for something to do. I said, ‘I think we could open a sports bar.’ ”

Besides Rae, Barnett said he has a couple of “silent” investors. But the business’ success or failure pretty much depends on Barnett. All problems get his scrutiny.

“If something goes wrong around here, I don’t mind taking some of the blame,” Barnett said. “And I don’t point fingers or yell; I pretty much handle it like I handle my football team. What’s the problem, why did this happen, and let’s fix it.”

Barnett’s decision to step away from football was unexpected. In 10 years at Trabuco, he had quite a run--an 81-30-2 record and three Southern Section titles. That followed nine good years (five as head coach) at Long Beach Poly.

“We had a lot of success and I expected to be moved up--but not all the way to Division I,” Barnett said. “And the other thing I didn’t understand about it was moving El Toro down to Division V. El Toro is the largest high school in our district; they have 500 more kids than we do.

“We didn’t have the kids to play at that level consistently. We had the best group of kids we’ve ever had this last year. The school won one championship in the South Coast League--girls’ cross-country. That tells you a little bit. The projected growth hasn’t happened yet; everybody talked like we were bigger than we were. If we were over 2,000 kids it wouldn’t bother me at all. But we’re at 1,750 kids . . . and with the county going broke they’re not going to build any more buildings, so it isn’t a real positive picture for playing in Division I.”

He also thinks it was time for new blood.

“There were some things that, if they had gone different, I would have stayed,” Barnett said. “But people have to understand that things go in cycles.

“Our cycle started from a brand new school to having success in Division VIII and Division VII; getting kicked up into Division I and giving it as good a one-year shot as a public school our size is sensibly capable of doing. I’m not trying to say the ‘poor me’s’ about Trabuco; there’s still a lot of potential, but it needs a rebirth. It needs a new guy.”

Bill Crow, former Mission Viejo coach, is that new man. He said he welcomes Barnett’s presence. “The kids will learn a lot from him; it’s great to keep him in the program,” he said.

Crow, however, understands the depth of the legacy he’s trying to continue.

“Jim will be hard to follow because he had such great success here,” Crow said. “I don’t think it mattered he was the first. Look at his record--now people expect you to be good every year because they were.

“I agree with him on Division I; Trabuco should not be there. Move us a little but not up the whole ladder in one jump. We’re not a big school. But you go with it.”

Meanwhile, Barnett will stoke his current competitive fires with the all-star game. He says he has the motivation, having coached in two previous all-star contests, losing both.

“I’m going to have some fun with it. And it makes it easier because I can really concentrate on it. When you’re running your own program, and you’re coaching an all-star game, you’re stuck on what you should be worrying about,” he said.