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SoCalHoops High School News

Alemany: The Weirdness
Continues--(Nov. 16, 1999)

Last season, Alemany had a dynamic young coach, Darryl McDonald. His only problem was that he was a registered sex offender, a small fact which he left off his employment application at two prior jobs, a fact which he also neglected to disclose to Alemany.

When the truth was revealed this past summer by the local news media, all hell broke loose, literally and figuratively. McDonald was, not surprisingly, fired. So was Dudley Rooney, the longtime AD and girls' softball coach.

It was only a few weeks ago, just last month in fact, that Alemany seemed to be getting back to normalcy. A few weeks ago, the school announced that it had hired David Wooley to replace McDonald as the new head coach. Wooley said at the time his hiring was announced that it was a job he was looking forward to with great enthusiasm. He was "looking to give Alemany closure." Wooley, a walk-on coach, seemed on his way to beginning a new era at Alemany.

Then just this past week, Alemany announced that it had reached an arbitrated settlement with Rooney, the result of which was to reinstate Rooney with back pay, and return him to his position as girls' softball coach.

So was right with the world, at least the world at Alemany, right?

Wrong.

This morning, both the LA Times and the Daily News are reporting on one of the strangest bit of news we've read in a long time. The headline at the Times reads: "Newly Hired Wooley Quits at Alemany." At the Daily News, it reads: "New Alemany basketball coach resigns."

The Daily News' Vincent Bonsignore wrote: "The strange saga of the Alemany High basketball program took a strnager twist Monday when new coach David Wooley abruptly resigned, just over a month after being hired and only two das after practice started."

Wooley's reason? According to the Daily News: "Wooley said following McDonald was more difficult than he imagined. 'The administration was overly cautious,and rightfully so after what happened with [McDonald],' Wooley said. 'But it was a situatoin that got to be too much for me. I though it would be, "Hey, let's move on," but instead it was, "Let's be very careful, let's not make any mistakes." That and the fact that the job was extremely time consuming--more than I thought it would be--made me realize this wasn't the job for me."

Huh? "Time consuming?"

According to Eric Sondheimer's report in the Times, "Wooley said he became frustrated with the lack of a gym and the bureaucratic hurdles installed since the firing of McDonald, who was forced out after it was discovered he was a registered sex offender. "

So where does this leave Alemany? They've already hired yet another coach, Chris Dunbar, 23, a former player at Chatsworth High and Cal Lutheran, who took over practices on Monday. According to Bonsignore's report, "Wooley didn't official resign until the Indians hired a new coach. 'I don't want to hurt the kids or the program.' Wooley said."

We'd be busy doing a preview of what you're likely to see at Alemany this year, but frankly, we're not sure who to talk to.

Stay tuned, because you'll definitely need a program to follow this team.