This year, San Dieguito Academy has a new assistant principal;  Ryan Yee left to become principal at Oak Crest. . So who is the new Assistant Principal  Doug Kamon?  During an interview he talked about his  past: grew up in Los Angeles, ASB president and  athlete in high school, attended Cal State Fullerton for his freshman year and graduated from Long Beach State.

Kamon coached for 25 years, including baseball, football and track. “The problems you have in coaching,”  he said, “are similar to those you have as an administrator.”   His administration career started in 1999, and after switching districts around LA and San Diego County, he eventually joined SDUHSD at La Costa Canyon where his sons Dustin and Daniel attended during his time there.

From looking around Kamon’s office, his character starts  to show.  For instance, he loves fishing. He has one of those animatronic singing fish on his wall, as well as a pet rock painted as a Big Mac to show off his sense of humor. The best object is a framed picture of him dressed as Elvis singing for a group of teachers at a staff luncheon, something that he would do every year before the holidays with a different theme each year, and hopes Hornig will allow him to do here. Kamon’s signature slogan is “You have to warm a heart before you ask for a hand.”

He explained that since he had become friends with Assistant Principal Jeanne Jones (“Dr. Jones is Gold,” he said), he calls her “Oba-san,” which is Japanese for grand dame that that he learned in Nihonjin gakkō (Japanese School) as a child.

Another interesting fact about Kamon is that he coached one of the assistant coaches of the Padres, Richard ‘Rick’ Renteria, who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1980 Major League Baseball Draft.

When asked about how he’s adjusting to the new school environment, Kamon said, “It  isn’t hard since everyone is very welcoming, teachers and students alike,  with a friendly and respectful attitude. The transition has also been easy and pretty smooth.”

From his first impressions, he plans to stay here for a long time. “They will have to bury me in the field,” he jokingly said. But his past experience with sports raised the question of whether he plans to possibly change the athletics at SDA or not since he also does the athletic director’s duties.

He said he has been asked that a lot since the first day, and it will take him a while to learn the “lay of the land” before he can focus on a specific area to oversee. Kamon likes the fact that anybody can join the teams, and the low amount of competition emphasized in San Dieguito’s sports.