![\"Torrey](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/DMT-L-TPLACROSSE-1023-02.jpg\")
Torrey Pines High School lacrosse players showed support for Coach Jono Zissi, whose contract was not renewed for the upcoming season at the Oct. 16 San Dieguito Union High School District board meeting. (Efstathios Geronikolaou)<\/p>\nThe Torrey Pines High School lacrosse team has its coach back.<\/p>\n
Coach Jono Zissi, who coached the team for the last 15 seasons, was dismissed by the San Dieguito Union High School District in September in light of alleged CIF violations regarding improper pre-enrollment contact between coaches and student athletes not currently enrolled in the school. The allegations centered on a text exchange between a Torrey Pines assistant coach and a player moving to the San Diego area who eventually went on to enroll at La Costa Canyon.<\/p>\n
On Jan. 22,\u00a0 SDUHSD Board President Jane Lea Smith announced that in closed session, the board was unanimous in its decision to offer longtime lacrosse coach Zissi the coaching position for the spring 2026 season, starting next month.<\/p>\n
Per an agreement between Zissi and the district, Smith said he accepted responsibility for the violations, acknowledged warnings about pre-enrollment contacts and agreed to immediately resign in the event of any future CIF violations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI apologize not just to the TPHS boys lacrosse team and alumni but to all TPHS athletic teams for the risks and stresses that my conduct has placed on you and your programs,\u201d read a statement by Zissi. \u201cI should have made different choices and I will do so in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI truly now understand what is at stake and I won\u2019t let you down,\u201d the statement continued.<\/p>\n
Due to the violation, CIF San Diego placed all levels of the Torrey Pines lacrosse program on probation for two school years, delayed the start of the 2026 season\u2019s practices and shortened the upcoming season by two games. As athletic coaches are considered temporary seasonal positions, it was a district decision not to bring Zissi back for the 2026 season. His dismissal was based on the initially reported incident and an additional incident involving a transfer from Canyon Crest Academy.<\/p>\n
In response to his removal, Torrey Pines lacrosse players, alumni and parents have been standing up for their coach at board meetings since the fall, speaking out before the board\u2019s closed session hearings. Over 480 emails were sent to the district on Zissi\u2019s behalf, including from NCAA college coaches and even rival programs.\u00a0 Many described Zissi, who has won 12 championship titles with the Falcons, including the latest in 2025, as more than a coach but a mentor and close friend.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I admire most about Jono is his understanding of what high school lacrosse is truly about: developing and empowering young men to be strong leaders both on and off the field,\u201d read one such email from Mike Riis, an LCC lacrosse alum from the class of 2011. \u201cWinning CIF titles is great \u2014 but the ultimate goal is helping these players grow, earn college opportunities, and learn values that will serve them throughout life.\u201d<\/p>\n
As it was a personnel issue and Zissi\u2019s attorney had threatened legal action against the district, the board was never able to discuss the topic in open session.<\/p>\n
Before the board\u2019s Jan. 22 closed session deliberations, Falcon team members were back in the board room one more time to rally for their coach.<\/p>\n
Torrey Pines High School lacrosse players showed support for Coach Jono Zissi, whose contract was not renewed for the upcoming season at the Oct. 16 San Dieguito Union High School District board meeting. (Efstathios Geronikolaou)<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the past 129 days our team has been without our rock,\u201d said senior Henri Tanghe, a student school board member and backup lacrosse goalie who is Georgetown-bound this fall. \u201cAs a team we have weathered many challenges before yet nothing has been like these nearly four and a half months. Despite all of the exhausting setbacks, we have come out stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henri shared that without their coach, the team continued Zissi\u2019s commitment to community service, which included a toy drive over the holidays. He said they were ready to get their coach back and to get back to their training routines.<\/p>\n
Due to the CIF sanctions, the Falcons were only allowed to play a shortened season of 18 games instead of the allowed 20. The upcoming 16-game season begins with a Feb. 28 matchup against St. Ignatius in Los Angeles. The team won\u2019t be able to start practicing until a week before the first game, which happens to fall on Valentine\u2019s Day, Feb. 14. Zissi will also need to build back his assistant coaching staff which was in flux after he was released.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2019I\u2019m so happy to put this behind me and get to work with our players and families,\u201d Zissi said. \u201cThe Torrey Pines culture and community were so incredibly supportive of me and showed up in a big way. I feel so fortunate and grateful to be the men\u2019s lacrosse coach at Torrey Pines.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Torrey Pines High School lacrosse team has its coach back. Coach Jono Zissi, who coached the team…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[310,311,9245,2044,6837,6838,25279,74,76,75,127,1696],"class_list":["post-151479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-del-mar-times","tag-del-mar-times-news","tag-del-mar-times-sports","tag-high-school-sports","tag-rancho-santa-fe-review","tag-rancho-santa-fe-review-news","tag-rancho-santa-fe-review-sports","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-sports","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}