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News from October 20, 2025

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Players, parents urge district to reinstate Torrey Pines lacrosse coach
Technology

Players, parents urge district to reinstate Torrey Pines lacrosse coach

The Torrey Pines High School lacrosse program is reeling following the dismissal of varsity Coach Jono Zissi due to alleged CIF violations of improper pre-enrollment contact with a student lacrosse player. In his 15 seasons at Torrey Pines Zissi has led the Falcons to 12 CIF championships, including their seventh straight title this past spring. In addition to San Dieguito Union High School District deciding not to renew Zissi’s contract for the upcoming 2026 season, CIF San Diego has also levied its own punishment, placing all levels of the lacrosse program on probation for two school years, delaying the start of the season’s practices and shortening the team’s season by two games. Falcon lacrosse student athletes and parents are now speaking out about a program that means so much to the community being “dismantled” due to evidence taken out of context, “outright lies” and a flawed process. Zissi said he was never given an opportunity to provide a rebuttal to the allegations, which centered on a text exchange between Torrey Pines assistant coach Dan O’Neil and a player moving to the San Diego area who eventually went on to enroll at La Costa Canyon. According to Zissi and his attorney, neither CIF, the school nor the district ever interviewed any of the people accused or named in the complaint. Zissi was also not provided with a copy of the initial complaint to CIF. At the San Dieguito school board’s Oct. 16 meeting, 147 people showed up to support the coach, with attendees overflowing into the hallways outside the board room, two auxiliary rooms and outside the Encinitas district office streaming the meeting on their phones. Inside the board room, players dressed formally in suits and ties held signs that read “We are culture”, “We are community” and “Save our Coach”. Ross Jacobsen, a Torrey Pines senior lacrosse player who has committed to play next year for Dartmouth College, said he was in complete shock to learn that his mentor “Coach Z” would not be returning for his high school season next spring. “The wave of emotions hit me like a truck. I cried and so did my fellow seniors,” Ross said. “I lost more than a coach, I lost a close friend. “Coach Zissi inspires me to be the best leader, student, brother, son and volunteer I can be. He always leads by example and with empathy. I cannot imagine a world where the freshman, sophomores and juniors do not get a full high school experience with Coach Zissi…It hurts me to think about all of the future young lacrosse players that are not going to get the chance to play for Coach Zissi. Those concerns impact me even more than the concerns of me not being able to play with him my senior year.” Senior player Foster Huang, who will play next year for Syracuse University, shared Ross’ disappointment and sadness and asked the board for help in reinstating their coach. “Our coach and program have been wronged,” Foster said. “In a time where great leaders are scarce, removing one of our finest would be detrimental.” A community request was made to place the coach’s status on an upcoming board meeting agenda, one that was echoed by trustees Phan Anderson, Michael Allman, and Torrey Pines’ student representative on the board Henri Tanghe, a goalie on the lacrosse squad: “I implore the board of trustees to look into this decision, determining an action that puts the best interest of the student body first,” Henri said. The district cannot comment on personnel matters, which are confidential. District Communications Coordinator Edwin Mendoza stated that athletic and academic coaches are “seasonal positions, hired on an as-needed basis. Each coach has a predetermined start and end date corresponding to their season.” CIF San Diego did not respond to a request for a copy of the original complaint. In addition to building up the Torrey Pines program over the last 15 seasons, Zissi is also the founder and director of Adrenaline, also known as West Coast Starz. During the off season he coaches local and regional players with RC Lacrosse, West Coast Starz and directs Nike tournament events. The incident in question occurred in May and was reported to CIF in July. In cropped texts, Falcons assistant coach O’Neil texted the player: “LCC or TP?” There was also one text from Zissi to the player’s father asking: “Any chance you can connect for a call?” “Regrettably, the texts shared with CIF appear incomplete, raising concerns about the accuracy and intent of the complaining party,” Zissi’s attorney Stephen Grebing wrote in his rebuttal to the district. In a written declaration, O’Neil said the texts were in reference to the player’s availability for the Nike Lacrosse National All-Star Games to be held in Baltimore in July 2025. As he had heard the family was moving from Los Angeles County to San Diego, he also passed along a new CIF rule unique to the San Diego section which imposes a one-year varsity eligibility restriction when a student transfers to a school where their new coach also served as their club coach or club director. “I asked (the player) in a text which high school he would be attending in San Diego,” wrote O’Neil, who is no longer with TPHS and is now the lacrosse coach at Arizona State University. “In no way was this an attempt to recruit him to Torrey Pines High School especially since I knew he would be deemed ineligible as he had played for me and I was a coach at Torrey Pines.” The player would also be ineligible as he had played for Zissi. He would further be ineligible for the Mavericks as he had played for LCC Coach Dallas Hartley with West Coast Starz and Mad Dog Lacrosse. O’Neil said he was never contacted by CIF, the school or the district to verify the meaning of the text exchange. Zissi was notified of the alleged CIF violation in late August by Torrey Pines Principal Rob Coppo. Zissi asked to see the initial CIF complaint but in a Sept. 2 email, the principal stated he did not have a copy of the report, just the two texts and the information from CIF that the messages constituted a rule violation. “Coach Zissi has never been provided with the complaint purportedly filed against him,” Grebing said. “It is fundamentally unfair to require a response to allegations that have not been disclosed in full.” Zissi said his cropped text message to the player’s father, which read “Any chance you can connect for a call?” was only about Nike tournament availability. In a Sept. 22 meeting with the district, Zissi was told without warning that his contract was not being renewed due to the initially reported violation and an additional incident involving a transfer from Canyon Crest Academy that had not been reported to CIF San Diego. In a declaration through his attorney, Zissi refuted any allegation that he attempted to recruit the CCA player or made any comments that would be in violation of CIF rules: “There is no scenario where someone living in Del Mar or Carmel Valley does not fully understand the differences between Torrey Pines and CCA athletic programs, class offerings, social structure, culture, and overall student-athlete opportunities for improvement, development, and life advancement.” The parent of the CCA student has hired a lawyer and filed a declaration stating that her words were misunderstood regarding her son’s transfer: “ I nor my son were never recruited by Coach Jono Zissi or anyone affiliated with TPHS to transfer schools for athletic purposes.” She stated the decision to transfer was based solely on academic, social and personal factors. None of the parties involved in the two complaints were contacted by CIF, the school or the district and Grebing said Zissi was not given any opportunity to debunk the accusations. “One of the founding principles of this country is due process…the right you’re afforded as being accused of doing something wrong to confront your accusers, to confront the evidence that is presented in support of those allegations,” Grebing told the school board. “Here. that did not happen.” During the packed school board meeting, parents spoke up about the difference Zissi has made with their sons, helping them through growing pains and some serious life challenges, getting them to college. Off the field, players in Zissi’s program perform 80 hours of community service every year, beach cleanups, volunteering at the San Diego Food Bank, and partnering with Friends of Jaclyn, which pairs children with pediatric cancer with a sports team. John Gavin, a parent of a 2020 Falcon grad, said Zissi taught the boys that “real service isn’t convenient.” “It’s not even about lacrosse, it’s really about how the kids come in as a freshman and completely mature in ways that they wouldn’t if they weren’t a part of this program. Unfortunately, that culture he created is being pushed to the side over what is essentially a petty, petty situation,” said parent Megan Stockton. “It’s hard to imagine that this is what we’re talking about. I think it’s personal against Jono.” In his comments to the board, Gavin also said he believes the initial complaint to CIF was personal, the fallout of a rivalry gone too far. “This is an orchestrated attempt to sabotage the Torrey Pines lacrosse program, disgrace Coach Zissi and destroy his coaching career,” he said. One of the speakers the board heard from was former player Tyler Blackburn, who graduated from Torrey Pines five years ago, went on to Brown and is now pursuing a career in the Navy. He credited Zissi with helping to make him the man he is today, teaching him lessons about hard work without complaint and treating all people with respect. “I urge you to invest in the young boys of this community,” Blackburn said. “Allow Coach Zissi to lead the lacrosse program and to grow more boys into the incredible men that this community wants.” In her request to place Zissi’s employment on a future agenda, Trustee Anderson said she was moved by the players’ words in support of their coach—Allman too, said some of the comments nearly brought him to tears. The district said it is too early to say whether the topic will be on the Nov. 20 agenda.

Karen Billing

Sabah communities celebrate Deepavali joyously

KOTA KINABALU (Oct 20): The joyous celebration of Deepavali in Sabah can clearly be felt, with people from various races and religions coming together to join the festivities at the Sri Pasupathinath Alayam here on Monday. Despite being far away from their families in Peninsular Malaysia, Indian students and the local community in the state [...]The post Sabah communities celebrate Deepavali joyously appeared first on Borneo Post Online.

The Borneo Post
Pete Carroll Issues Warning to 30 NFL Teams About Chiefs’ Offensive Power After Shutout Loss
Sports

Pete Carroll Issues Warning to 30 NFL Teams About Chiefs’ Offensive Power After Shutout Loss

The Kansas City Chiefs are finally starting to look like the Kansas City Chiefs again. Their 31–0 demolition of Pete Carroll’s Las Vegas Raiders didn’t just put them back over .500 for the first time this season. It sent a message to the rest of the league: Patrick Mahomes and company are back in rhythm, […]The post Pete Carroll Issues Warning to 30 NFL Teams About Chiefs’ Offensive Power After Shutout Loss appeared first on EssentiallySports.

Sehaj Kour

A digital simulation platform with human-interactive immersive design for navigation, motion, and teleoperated manipulation of work-class remotely operated vehicle

Underwater tests of work-class remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) face huge difficulties, high equipment costs, and time-consuming processes. Digital simulation of the full operation of ROVs has become an economically feasible way for algorithm pretesting and operator training before actual underwater tasks. However, existing digital simulation platforms often lack comprehensive designs that simultaneously consider ROV navigation, motion control, and manipulator teleoperation, and fail to provide immersive feedback for operators, which limits their effectiveness in training and algorithm...

Frontiers of Information Technology & Electronic Engineering
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