By John Murphy

Coach Matt Logan was at a crossroads.

By 2008 his Corona Centennial High football program was a CIF-State
powerhouse. But his wife Donna died of breast
cancer in July of 2007. He had three daughters ranging in age from 10
to 16. Duty called.

“It was numbing,” Logan said last month from his award-filled office.
“I didn’t think it would result in what it did. There was so much
support and so many prayers that were guided toward us and her. That
helped us through the process, but it was rough. I thought I was going
to have to stop coaching.”

Then an e-mail arrived. It was from Leigh Morrison, a woman from West
Covina he did not know. She is the wife of current Corona Santiago
football coach Scott Morrison who was then at La Puente High.

Recalled Logan: “She said, ‘I saw you on TV and you mentioned that you
might not be coaching anymore. You need to coach. This is what you do.
This is your passion.’ That really inspired me.”

Years later, Leigh Morrison recalled the situation.

“For me, as a coach’s wife, it made me cry,” she said. “For a coach
and his children this is what Friday nights are – to go watch dad
coach.”

Logan stayed. The results are historic. Since 2000 Centennial has won
10 section titles, three Southern California regional titles and the
2008 state championship. Logan has made Centennial one of the top
public-school programs in the Nation. He was named the national coach
of the year by different outlets in 2008 and 2015.

Asked the secret to his program’s success Logan said, “Good players.
That helps. That and a good and stable coaching staff. Kids come here
expecting to compete and win and expect to be pushed hard.”

Centennial, as of early-November, was in phase 2 of team conditioning
under COVID-19 restrictions.

The 2021 team expects to return blue-chip defensive end Korey Foreman
but has suffered some setbacks. Star running back Seven McGee and
promising sophomore receiver Malachi Riley have transferred out. That just
means next-man-up for Centennial. Besides, Logan has perspective. He
understands the difference between losing a player or two and real
adversity.

“There are a lot of memories,” he said of his late wife. “I think
about (Donna) every day. She lives on through my daughters. They all
have certain qualities of her.”

Logan remarried four years ago. He and wife LaRonda are former high
school sweethearts who are members of Norco High’s athletic Hall of Fame.
They moved to Huntington Beach two years ago where they live with
Matt’s youngest daughter Madison who studies Marine Biology at Cal
State University, Long Beach. LaRonda also has a daughter, Alyssa.

“My dad’s awesome,” Madison said. “He has a huge commitment to
football, but he’s always been such a great dad. Somehow, he always
managed to get us to all our sports practices. It was crazy, but fun.”

The oldest Logan daughter, Lindsey Manalili, lives in Huntington Beach
with husband and former Centennial linebacker Jason Manalili. She is
an occupational therapist at Children’s Hospital of Orange County.

“He did an awesome job,” Lindsey said of her father. “We went to
school the day after my mom passed. He wanted to keep things as normal
for us as possible. Even with three girls and having to buy feminine
products, there was no problem. He’s a great girl dad.”

Middle daughter Samantha, who resides in La Quinta, is an ecommerce
specialist and hopeful women’s professional football player. She tried
out for the Los Angeles Black Storm Extreme League team last month.

A basketball star at Centennial, Sami nabbed media attention her
senior year of 2012-2013 when she joined the football team during the
season. During the Huskies’ annual Pink-Out Game during Breast Cancer
Awareness month, she completed an 18-yard pass to Jordan Dye. Dye was
a receiver who also lost his mom to breast cancer in 2011.

“The crowd was yelling ‘Sami’ so my dad had to put me in,” she said.
“After I completed the pass all of the players and my family ran up to
me and hugged me. It was mainly happiness, smiles and happy tears —
knowing that it was all for my mom.”

The love and laughs still flow. The Logan daughters chuckle about
their dad’s meticulous nature. And how they sabotaged his Oreo cookies
with toothpaste and his ice cream with salt.

Madison recalls her friends from rival Corona Santiago coming to the
house and being intimidated to meet the “big, tough” Centennial
football coach, only to find a hilarious guy with a sarcastic bent.

Between football and family, it has been a wild ride.

“I was very fortunate that they are good girls,” Matt Logan said. “I
didn’t realize it at the time, but she (Donna) did a lot of things
that now, looking back, she was preparing us all for what could
happen.”

The interview now finished and the tape recorder off, Logan reminisced
about a Centennial vs. Eisenhower game played decades ago. Then he
left his office and walked … toward a future no doubt filled with more glory,
setbacks and all the twists and turns life brings.