High Schools: Ciarelli, Glenn, a terrific tandem at Newport Harbor

There probably isn’t a high school boys’ volleyball team in the country that can say it has two coaches on its staff part of the 500-win club.

Newport Harbor High will be able to stake a claim to that this spring.

Rocky Ciarelli, who won more than 500 matches during his 24 years in charge of Huntington Beach, will be the Sailors new coach. Ciarelli’s good friend, Dan Glenn, the head coach of the boys at Newport Harbor for a quarter of a century, until he stepped down after the 2011 season to focus on the girls’ program and family, convinced Ciarelli to apply for his old job.

The Sailors offered the position to Ciarelli on Friday, and he accepted it. Ciarelli and Glenn, who coached against each other in boys’ and girls’ volleyball from 1986 to 2008, will be on the same bench. Talk about experience and championship pedigree.

Ciarelli won three CIF Southern Section titles at Huntington Beach, twice in Division I with the boys in 1993 and ‘94, and once in Division IIAA with the girls in ‘96, the same year the girls finished as CIF State Division II champions. He led the boys to 10 Sunset League championships and the girls to three league championships.

Helping Ciarelli as an assistant will be Glenn, a volleyball coaching legend. Glenn has guided the Sailors to a combined 17 CIF Southern Section title appearances, winning nine of them, seven with the girls and two with the boys.

The last time Newport Harbor’s boys reached a section finale was in 2008, when Ciarelli retired as coach from Huntington Beach, his alma mater. The season also marked the end of his son Tony’s high school playing career.

Rocky’s retirement from coaching high school volleyball lasted six years. He’ll have another Tony around at Newport Harbor. His brother is Tony Ciarelli, the defensive coordinator for Newport Harbor’s football program and the throws coach for the school’s track and field program.

Tony has been at Newport Harbor for 22 years. He will surely help his brother settle in at Newport Harbor.

While last season was a rocky one for the Sailors in volleyball, as they missed the postseason, which never happened under Glenn, Newport Harbor believes Rocky can turn things around. He’s definitely won his share of matches.

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•Football by the numbers:

5,549 — Number of yards quarterback Cole Norris has thrown for during his Newport Harbor career. The senior became the school’s all-time career passing yards leader on Friday, breaking the mark of 5,364 yards set by Shane Foley, a 1986 graduate.

230 — Number of career victories for Jeff Brinkley as Newport Harbor’s football coach. The 62-year-old reached the milestone after leading the Sailors to a 41-22 win at Manhattan Beach Mira Costa on Friday. Brinkley, in his 29th season at the helm of the Sailors, ranks fifth when it comes to wins among coaches in Orange County history. He is now 230-108-3.

91 — Number of yards Estancia’s Dylan Laurent covered during his punt return for a touchdown in a 34-20 win at Ocean View on Friday.

73 — Number of yards during Sage Hill quarterback CJ McCord’s touchdown run in a 28-0 win at home against Walnut Southlands Christian on Friday.

50 — Number of games it took for Sage Hill to produce its first shutout since blanking Crean Lutheran, 41-0, on Nov. 11, 2009.

14 — Number of touchdown passes for Norris this season. He threw for a Newport Harbor single-season record 27 touchdowns last year as a junior. He’s on pace to surpass his mark.

10 — Number of consecutive wins by Corona del Mar in Pacific Coast League play. The Sea Kings open league at Irvine on Friday.

0 — Number of wins for Costa Mesa this year.