Prep notes: McClurg takes over Immanuel; Avila to Bullard

Nate McClurg, hailing from a distinguished family tree and having played an integral role in Immanuel High’s rise to prominence in boys basketball, has been named the Eagles’ head coach.

“He’s impeccably prepared for this opportunity, a perfect fit,” says C.J. Haydock, last season’s Bee Coach of the Year who recently shifted from Immanuel to Fresno Pacific’s men’s basketball program as an assistant. “No single person contributed more to our success the last few years than Nate McClurg.”

That’s a mouthful considering the Eagles won Central Section titles the past two seasons, going a school-record 30-3 this past winter while reaching the Southern California Division IV semifinals.

Further, they averaged 74.5 under offensive coordinator and three-year assistant McClurg — and that wasn’t all about fattening up on inferior competition in the Central Sequoia League.

The Eagles, for example, defeated section D-I champion Edison 77-61, Oaks Christian-Westlake Village 77-60 in the SoCal quarterfinals and went toe to toe with Southern Section power Campbell Hall-North Hollywood in a 77-71 loss to close the season.

And they’ll return virtually all of their firepower, featuring Bee co-Players of the Year Colin Slater and Darrin Person Jr.

“Nate will provide a steady leadership, continuity, strong relationships with our players and a fierce intellect,” Haydock says. “His work ethic and knowledge of the game are equaled by few.”

McClurg’s pedigree is established, also.

Father Mike McClurg has been a longtime local football coach at the junior college and high school levels, currently at Memorial. Mother Jayne McClurg was a Verhoeven — sister of former Hanford High, Fresno State and NBA player Pete Verhoeven and aunt of former Central Valley Christian star and current Stanford player Grant Verhoeven.

Fresno High’s Avila to coach Bullard

Dan Avila, who helped spin Fresno High girls basketball from woeful to wonderful in the past four years, has taken over Bullard’s girls program.

“I feel Bullard’s a sleeping giant,” says Avila, who went 74-41 at a Fresno Division III program that had gone 24-67 in four seasons before he arrived. “Plus, they’re D-I, so they compete at the highest level in the Valley, and that’s No. 1 in importance to me.”

Most important, actually, for the former Bullard assistant is to run down Clovis West coach Craig Campbell, who’s 10 for 10 in Tri-River Athletic Conference titles and has won six section D-I crowns with the Eagles.

Bullard competes in the County/Metro Athletic Conference, but Avila’s pointing to the postseason — ultimately.

“Craig’s the standard,” Avila says. “My goal is to chase the guy on the top, as lofty as a goal as that is. I want to see if I can be the guy to knock him off. But it’s a re-build here; Bullard has lost everybody. Over time, I hope to do what we did at Fresno.”

Buchanan to face two-time champ

The task awaiting Buchanan’s boys volleyball team is a tall one, figuratively and literally.

The fifth-seeded Bears are set to visit No. 1 Huntington Beach on Thursday in the semifinals of the SoCal D-I Regional. The nationally No. 1-ranked Oilers enter the 6 p.m. match in Huntington Beach winners of 102 straight matches, including the past two SoCal Regional D-I titles, as they continue pursuit of the national record of 112 straight wins set by Salem-New Hampshire between 2004-2009.

Huntington Beach features five players headed to Division I programs: libero Davis Gillett (UCLA), outside hitter T.J. DeFalco (Cal State Long Beach), setter Josh Tuaniga (Long Beach), opposite hitter Ben Vaught (Hawaii) and outside hitter James Anatassiadesa (Hawaii).

The tallest of the Oilers’ six players who stand 6-feet-6 or taller, the 6-8 Alex Wolf, will play D-I water polo at UCLA.

Buchanan has faced Huntington Beach each of the past two seasons, losing 25-23, 25-22 last season in the final of the Best of the West tournament and 25-10, 25-15, 27-25 in the first round of the 2013 SoCal Regional.

The Bears (31-6) have won 11 straight, including their regional opener 25-22, 26-24, 25-20 over Torrey Pines on Tuesday. Buchanan is and are ranked No. 13 in the state and No. 14 in the nation by Maxpreps.

Also in action is fifth-seeded Clovis North, which plays at No. 1 Corona del Mar in the D-II semifinals. The Broncos opened with a 25-23, 18-25, 25-19, 23-25, 15-13 victory over No. 4 Cathedral Catholic-San Diego.

The Regional finals are set for Saturday at Cerritos College in Norwalk.

This story was originally published May 27, 2015 at 9:22 PM with the headline "Prep notes: McClurg takes over Immanuel; Avila to Bullard."