200 Wins for Rancho Christian's Jim Kunau

Rancho Christian High School varsity head football coach, Jim Kunau, who was previously the head coach at Trinity League power Orange Lutheran for 19 years, notched his 200th career win Friday night when the Eagles defeated Perris California Military Institute, 56-15, in a South Valley League game.

Kunau, 57, won 182 games while at Orange Lutheran, winning 13 league titles, two CIF-Southern Section championships and one CIF-State championship from 1993 to 2011.

He spent a season at Anaheim Canyon High School and went 5-5 before becoming the executive director of Rancho Christian. He’s been the Eagles’ football coach for two seasons, and has a 13-7 record, including 6-3 in 2015.

“Honestly, this (Rancho Christian) reminds me a lot of being at Orange Lutheran when I first got there,” Kunau said. “We got started at this level and worked our way up to the highest level of football competition.”

Kunau, who played football at Bakersfield High School and Cal Lutheran University, credits a lot of his success to the players and coaches he’s been associated with.

In his 22 years of coaching, Kunau has had one former student – Austin Pettis – play in the National Football League. Pettis, a wide receiver, played four seasons with St. Louis Rams from 2011 to 2014.

Kanau said he’s also had more than 100 players go on to play college football, including at USC and Notre Dame.

(Writing Credit: David Zink)