Gunderson Again Coaching Soccer at Dana Hills

Dana Hills High has replaced Matt Williams as girls’ soccer coach, giving the job to former boys’ varsity coach John Gunderson for the remainder of the season.

Gunderson, who coached the boys for the seven years before taking this year off, was asked to coach the girls’ team 1 1/2 hours before a game Jan. 22, he said. In the previous game, the team had been coached by the junior varsity coach.

“[School officials] really didn’t really tell me why,” said Gunderson, a psychology teacher at Dana Hills. “They came to my classroom and told me they were having problems and asked if I could I coach the game.”

Gunderson thought he was just filling in for one game, but school officials came to him again on Monday and asked if he could finish out the season. The team is 4-9-1 overall and 0-5 and in last place in the South Coast League.

Dana Hills Athletic Director Mark Thornton refused comment. Williams could not be reached for comment.

“I don’t want to speculate what happened,” Gunderson said. “I’m going to try and finish out the season for the girls. You couldn’t ask for a worse thing to happen to a team and not knowing what happened makes it worse.”