PREP BOYS SOCCER: Rich takes helm of Lake City program

The 5A Inland Empire League has had a great wealth of success and talent in recent years, with teams advancing to trophy games and even claiming a state title a few years ago.

Now, they’re getting Rich.

Alan Rich, 57, a member of two NCAA Final Four teams at California State (Chico) as a midfielder, was recently named boys soccer coach at Lake City High. Rich previously coached at Westside Christian in Lake Oswego, Ore., from 2008-2012 and finishing with five winning seasons.

“I came here from Portland,” Rich said. “I’d lived there for 35 years and used to travel here quite a bit for business and had a career change, always loved it here, so we came here. I grew up in Colorado and love the lakes, mountains, lakes and ponds, and I’ll take the snow over rain any day. We just liked the friendly feel of the community and because I’ve got a soccer background, knew enough that this is a good soccer community.”

Rich takes over for Chad Beadell, who led the Timberwolves to a third-place finish in the 2015 state 5A tournament. Beadell resigned from coaching and teaching in the fall. He was 119-57-21 at the school.

“I feel blessed and honored to get the job among the many qualified applicants that (Lake City athletic director) Jim (Winger) had for that job,” Rich said. “I feel very honored to be the new coach at Lake City. I’ve done enough homework to know that it’s a very supportive group of parents, as well as the soccer program at the high school level. I know with the local clubs and the community in general, I’m really looking forward to it.”

“Looking at his resume, I think he’s got a lot to offer,” Winger said. “His energy is great and he’s got the parents and kids together and on the same page. He’s really taken the reins and ran with it. The kids have been real impressed with him.”

Rich and his wife moved to the area 18 months ago, and while not involved with the club soccer programs locally quite yet, he’s spoken with Sting director Mike Thompson and NIC men’s soccer coach Ken Thompson about various aspects of the game.

“Most of the coaches at the high school level, they’re specifically Sting coaches at some level,” Rich said. “We used to live near Lake City and my daughter and I would ride our bikes over and watch the games — both the boys and girls — and I was impressed with the level of play. It seemed like a well ran program and there was plenty of talent. More than that, there seemed like a good level of sportsmanship.”

Sportsmanship is something, Rich hopes, to instill in the players he’ll now be coaching.

“One of the things that bugs me is the attitude that, as long as the referee doesn’t see it, that it’s OK,” Rich said. “And that doesn’t fly with me. I want to teach the game properly and instill in these kids the right way to play the game. I want to be a mentor to these kids and teach them life lessons and having integrity and playing with character are important.”

Lake City has won three straight IEL championships and back-to-back regional titles.

“You always start with a target on your back,” Rich said. “In the past high school coaching I’ve done, we’ve always managed to overachieve. I had great kids as well, and in this era, coaches get way too much credit when team’s win and too much blame when teams lose. I’m there to mold them, motivate and get to play together as a group and as a unit. At the end of the day, if the 11 kids on the field don’t show up mentally or physically, there’s not much you can do with that. We always managed to punch above our weight level and were able to get more out of them than they thought they could give, and I’m OK with that. I kind of like the challenge and it’s fun to tell the kids every team we play, they’re going to give us their best shot.