George Hurley

Newbury Park H.S. Wrestling & Football Coach

Born: May 17th, 1948 in Taft, California

Cal Poly SLO 1971 – BA History, minor Math
Cal Poly SLO 1978 – MA Education

As an all league player at Taft Union H.S., George accepted a Football scholarship and started for three years on the offensive line at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He was an all conference player in both 1969 and 1970 and was hired to coach at Newbury Park H.S. in 1972.

During his career he has also coached Basketball and Baseball but he has earned his fame as a Wrestling and Football coach.

In 1984-5, his Wrestling team placed second in the State, the highest level ever reached by a Ventura County team. He also refereed Wrestling for twenty-five years including several CIF finals.

In Football during his nineteen-year career as Head Coach, his teams won 130 games, a mark still in the top ten all time Ventura County coaching record list. His teams won seven Marmonte League championships, went to the CIF playoffs eleven times and participated in two CIF final games. In the 1993 CIF Finals game versus Hawthorne, acknowledged by the Ventura STAR as the finest game in County history, the Panthers won the championship.

He has been selected Marmonte League Coach of the Year nine times, County Coach of the Year five times, L.A. TIMES area Coach of the Year twice and the National Football League Coach of the Year in 1998.

He initiated some of the first “out-of-State” Football trips, playing and hosting teams from Arizona, Hawaii and Oregon.

His greatest accomplishment may have been innovation of the Marmonte League so-called passing circus” in the 1990s when scores went from a three point differential to games where both teams would put more than fifty points on the board. He also expanded the summer league passing program from its infancy to being a major component of all county high school Football off season preparation. The passing league tournaments now include freshmen and sophomores.

During his career, George played Rugby for twelve years and officiated Track and Field meets from 1979 to the present. In that time, thousands of athletes and scores of coaches have had the good fortune to cross paths with this good natured and affable Ventura County sports leader.