Football: Ward out as Dominguez coach

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Having tired of a situation in which he rarely got to coach his team, Cornell Ward quit as Compton Dominguez’s football coach Friday night following the Dons’ fourth consecutive loss to start the season.

Because of difficulty commuting from his job near USC as a youth minister, Ward said he had not attended practice since the week before Dominguez’s season opener and didn’t arrive at the host Dons’ 25-6 loss to Redlands East Valley on Friday until the start of the first quarter.

‘I was just doing the kids a disservice,’ Ward said Saturday.

Ward said he had been told he would have an opportunity to obtain a job on the Dominguez campus when he accepted the coaching position last month following the retirement of longtime coach Willie Donerson. But that job never materialized.

Ward said he took time off from work to attend practice the week of the Dons’ 24-21 loss to St. George (Utah) Pine View on Aug. 30 but had not been able to make it to anything except games the last three weeks. He said he informed his players that he was leaving Friday night.

‘It’s a sad situation, but Dominguez will bounce back,’ said Ward, whose team has only four returning players from last season. ‘I don’t think they’ll lose another game.’

Special teams coach Jose Rosa will become the interim head coach, Ward said, with Donerson returning on a volunteer basis. The Dons (0-4) play at Lawndale Leuzinger (2-1) on Friday.

‘We’ve got to try to figure out a way to turn this thing around,’ Donerson said.

--Ben Bolch