The Dirtbags’ season is still almost a month away, but skipper Mike Weathers was already cooking Saturday morning at the ESPN Zone in Downtown Disney, one of nine participants in the Coaches’ Cook-Off Classic.  Managers from as far away as Santa Barbara and san Diego traded in their uni’s for aprons to come see who could serve up the best eats.  ESPN Zone’s head chef cooked a sun-dried tomato chicken penne, and then each coach tried to mimic his dish; then, using a wide array of ingredients and sauces, they had to come up with their own creation.

Weathers was visibly nervous before he stepped up to the chef’s station.  “You’ll be fine, Weathers,” said coach Rousey from Northridge, before feeding him some false, pesto-related tips. 

“I’m more nervous than before an opener against coach Gillespie,” Weathers said, referring to UC Irvine’s Mike Gillespie.  “Usually you see sports highlights—well, this is my lowlight.  I’m a steak and grill guy.  I mean I still throw my pasta against the side of the fridge to see if it’s done.”

After finishing his dishes and wiping the sweat from his brow, Weathers presented his meal to the judges—he made the required copy-cat plate, and his own creation, a shrimp with bow tie pasta and spicy sauce meal that his wife (Charlotte) saw and said, and I quote, “Oh, that looks terrible.” 

“Yeah, I think it’s going to be used against us in recruiting,” Weathers responded, before coach Gillespie accused him of taking signals from his wife while at the grill.  Charlotte tried to comfort him, saying, “The ingredients taste good…separately.”

Weathers and Pepperdine coach Steve Rodriguez later complained to the judges that Gillespie was getting an unfair advantage by going over his allotted time.

At the end of the morning, Weathers failed to take home a top prize (or a bottom one), but did receive a nice, polished medal of participation.  The top winner was USC coach Chad Kreuter (Gillespie’s son-in-law), and Gillespie “won” the Kitchen Nightmare award, getting a miniature fire extuingisher instead of a trophy.  UCSB’s Bob Brontsema won the creativity award for spelling out “UCSB” in bell peppers on the edge of his plate. 

Relieved that he hadn’t won the Nightmare prize, Weathers and his family left ESPN Zone smiling and, I suspect, ready to trade his chef’s hat back in for a baseball cap.