Arostegui calls last play at Live Oak

The face of Live Oak High football is changing.

Jim Arostegui, who has led the Lions on to the gridiron for 16 years, has resigned, citing a desire to spend more time with family.

"It's no surprise, I've probably known for months," said Arostegui, who has been coaching for 26 years in all and has a son playing football at Marysville High and a younger daughter who also is an athlete.

He said he missed a lot of his older daughter's activities because of coaching.

In fact, according to longtime colleague Matt Weinrich, Arostegui basically sacrificed his summers every year for Live Oak athletics.

"He spent eons of time running the weight room for which he didn't get paid. He didn't take family vacations," said Weinrich, who was the varsity football coach when Arostegui came to Live Oak.

Arostegui was the junior varsity coach at the time, and also coached varsity basketball.

Even after he took over the football program, he continued to coach basketball.

"He gave it up, I think after his second year as varsity football coach, so he was the head basketball coach for 10 or 11 years and showed that same commitment to that," Weinrich said.

"He is like an icon here, and we are going to miss him as a coach."

Arostegui, who will continue to teach, formally resigned about a month ago, but talked to Weinrich, the athletics director, several times during the season about calling it quits.

"I think people really knew even before the season started," Arostegui said.

It was a season in which Arostegui led the Lions to a Northern Section title game for the eighth time, and for the third straight season. He has four championships.

"He won league two or three times (in basketball)," Weinrich said, "maybe even five league championships."

But it is football for which Arostegui will be most remembered.

Two of his section titles, 1997 and 1998, were won by undefeated teams, part of a streak of 24 straight wins starting in 1997.

"At this place, kids work very hard and those kids especially," Arostegui said. "But they also were very, very talented players."

His other championships came in 1993 and 2002.

Arostegui said that first championship, in just his second year as the head man, is probably the most special.

But it is actually the semifinal game at Corning that he remembers most.

"We were not supposed to beat Corning at Corning. No one gave us a chance," Arostegui said.

While his success certainly garnered offers from other schools, Arostegui said he never considered leaving Live Oak.

"First of all, there is no guarantee what you do is going to be successful somewhere else," said Arostegui, quickly adding that it is the school's environment he cherishes most.

"It is a real family atmosphere from the principal to the guy who filmed games to the guy who lined the field. If we had any success here, it was because of all of the people here," Arostegui said.

In addition to Arostegui, the football program also is losing his longtime assistant coaches Rob Cates and Dave Anderson.

Arostegui knows he will miss coaching on Friday nights.

He said he probably will even miss the practices — the camaraderie with his coaches and the players. He also will miss talking and sharing experience with coaches from other schools each week. But he also knows the decision is right for him.

"You do something for 26 years, it gets tough," Arostegui said.

Sutter High coach Scott Turner, who plans to step down after the 2008 season, said Arostegui will be very hard to replace.

"Number one, he's a super person, a great individual. His coaching speaks for itself. He is a great coach and is a great mentor to his players, a great role model, but that starts because he is such a great person, " said Turner, who talked to Arostegui on nearly a weekly basis over the years.

"When you are a coach like that, it is tough to take his place. There are a lot of coaches out there, but not a lot of great coaches, and I consider Jim one of those great coaches."

Weinrich hopes Arostegui will come back to coaching someday, and Arostegui admitted that is a possibility.

"I never close the door on anything," he said.

In the meantime, the search for his replacement continues.

Weinrich said he is still accepting applications, and will begin the interview process after the spring break.