For the second time in the past week, one of the top coaches in the Central Coast Section announced his resignation, as Mountain View girls soccer coach Ivan Bandov notified his team over the weekend that he would not be returning next year.
His announcement comes on the heels of Menlo-Atherton football coach Adhir Ravipati making the same statement regarding the Bears’ program, after taking that team to a similar level of success.
“I was not going to be able to keep giving this program what it deserves,” Bandov said. “There are a lot of great kids returning, and they should have a very good team next year, but my job coaching (club soccer) in San Francisco while living in Burlingame just made it too much to keep juggling everything.”
With Bandov at the helm, the Spartans won 141 games over the past eight seasons, and no fewer than 18 wins in any of the last five years. After winning the CCS Division I title in 2015, Mountain View reached the Open Division title game in three straight seasons, winning it all in 2017 by beating Archbishop Mitty for the crown. This year, the Spartans lost in the Open semifinals, but rebounded to reach the CIF NorCal Division II title game.
“Having talented players definitely made my time a lot easier, and I feel good about the time put in and what we accomplished,” Bandov added. “I have a ton of great memories from the past eight years.”
With the consistency surrounding the Mountain View program, the Spartans figure to be an attractive program for a potential coach. That was even the case when Bandov took over, and it’s more attractive now. Mountain View does graduate standout midfielder Sydney Arrillaga and defensive captain Sarah Davenport, but return the majority of its scoring firepower, including freshman Allie Montoya, who had 20 goals and 17 assists in her inaugural high school campaign. Sophomore Sistine Noel and freshman Isabella Walker are two more returning standouts with years ahead of them.
“It was a good program when I first took the job, so there was no turnaround that had to take place then either,” Bandov said. “We tried to be consistent and make it a family atmosphere, with all the things we did together off the field. The program should be able to get a great coach who wants to continue this tradition.”
In addition to Mountain View’s success in the section playoffs, the Spartans have also been the dominant SCVAL-De Anza program. They have not lost more than one game in league play since 2013, including unbeaten runs in 2014 and 2016.
