Granada Hills Will Try to Wake Up the Echoes

GRANADA HILLS —  Darryl Stroh and Tom Harp, the football coaches who guided Granada Hills High to a City Section Division 4-A championship in 1987, have decided to come out of retirement and take over a program that has fallen on difficult times.

“It just seems the right thing to do,” said Stroh, who retired as baseball coach in 1996 after he gave up football in 1993.

Stroh, 58, and Harp, 44, will be joined by former line coach Bill Lake, 55, as they try to revitalize the Highlanders, who had a 3-27 record over the past three seasons.

“We’re just going to do the best job we can,” Stroh said. “We’re going to go out in the P.E. classes and try to talk the best athletes to give it a try. We’re looking for kids who are willing to make a commitment to the program and can take some discipline.”

Granada Hills was 1-9 this season and suffered three consecutive losing seasons under Brad Ratcliff, who resigned two weeks ago.

Harp served as head coach in 1994, then gave up football to concentrate on coaching boys’ volleyball and girls’ soccer.

Stroh and Harp have put together a large staff of assistant coaches that includes former players Bart Hansen, Faio Emelio, Jeff Galieti, Kevin Carmichael and Jeremy Leach.

“I had people in the past who said, ‘If you come back, I’d be interested [in coaching],’ ” Stroh said. “It’s a great bunch of guys.”

Stroh said when he retired as baseball coach following the 1996 season that he wouldn’t return. He guided the Highlanders to five City Section championships in baseball.

But he remained a physical education instructor at the school and decided he wanted to rebuild a football program that produced John Elway and fielded one of the Valley’s best passing offenses.

Harp, who will run the offense, said the Highlanders will throw the football but rely on balance. He has two promising young quarterbacks, sophomore Eddie Whitaker and freshman Bobby Baca, a recent transfer from Taft.

The return of Stroh and Harp is expected to energize Granada Hills alumni. Could they get some help from a Denver Bronco quarterback?

“If Elway retires, he might be here,” Harp joked.