Say this about Calabasas head football coach Wayne Quigley: The man doesn't back down from a challenge.

This fall, the 59-year-old P.E. instructor will enter his third season as the leader of the Coyotes. Quigley's teams are 0-20 since he accepted the school's head coaching job in 2004. Overall, Calabasas has lost more than 30 consecutive games.

Despite the continued onfield struggles for his program, Quigley said he still loves to teach the game of football. After all, when you've been doing it for 37 years, learning how to deal with highs and lows almost becomes second nature.

"It's real discouraging to go through an 0-10 season, and I've been through two in a row," Quigley said. "That'll take the wind out of anybody's sails.

"But still, I enjoy working with the kids because they almost always remain positive," he said. "Each week they psych up and get ready to go again."

After playing running back and defensive back for Crespi High, Quigley manned the same positions at Valley College. He later earned a scholarship to the University of the Pacific and was converted into a linebacker.

Wayne QuigleyAt Pacific, Quigley played under defensive guru Buddy Ryan, the architect of the acclaimed 1985 Chicago Bear defense, and Walt Harris, who's director of football at Stanford University.

Ryan "was great. He was the most popular coach I've ever known," Quigley said.

Quigley called Ryan a master of the psychological game.

"He was really quick, had great vision and could see everything that was going on-- every play, every down, with every player," Quigley said.

"You'd think that if you were on the other side of the field and you were getting your butt kicked he wouldn't notice, but right after the play, he'd read you the riot act for doing something wrong."

Wayne

Quigley graduated from University of the Pacific in 1970 with a degree in speech. Two years later, he earned a master's degree in physical education from Cal State L.A.

Quigley came to Calabasas 21 years ago, and for nearly two decades he worked as a coordinator for former head coach and current CHS athletic director Larry Edwards.

When the school hired Ken Patotta as its head coach in 2003, Quigley moved to Moorpark College for a season before returning to Calabasas as head coach the following year.

In his early years patrolling the sidelines, Quigley said he was the type of coach who'd get into players' faces and challenge them verbally, a la Ryan. As the years progressed, however, he's toned down his antics quite a bit. "I've mell o w e d , " Quigley said. "I've gotten so old-well maybe I'm not that old- but I've slowed down and I'm not so aggressive any more."

T h e C o y o t e s ' record being what it's been in recent years, Quigley said it's probably time for the school to "check out" of the Marmonte League in favor of a smaller league.

"We don't have the numbers they do," he said. "I look at the rosters of these other teams and gosh, we've got 35-40 kids and some of them have 65-70 . . .

"We had two guys under 200 pounds on our line last year. We're probably the only team in the league that had that."

Calabasas has scaled back its preseason schedule a bit this season with hopes of ending the long losing streak. Early in the year, the Coyotes will play Channel Islands, a team that was 1-9 a year ago.

As he prepares to enter what will probably be his next-tolast season as a coach, Quigley said his team's attitude is the best it's been in years. Now all they need to do is get into the win column and have some fun, he said.

"Our kids are real optimistic," Quigley said. "They just think we're 0-0 and they don't even consider anything from the past."