AZUSA, Calif. – Former Cougar Bo Beatty and former Western Christian High School head coach Steve Loumagne have joined the Azusa Pacific football coaching staff as assistants to first-year head coach Victor Santa Cruz.

Beatty, who will coach the linebackers, returns to Azusa Pacific after a 6-year absence. A former Cougar linebacker in the early 1990s, the exuberant Beatty was a popular assistant coach for Azusa Pacific from 1995 to 1999 and was a key member of the 1998 staff when Azusa Pacific captured its first-ever NAIA championship.

A one-time standout at Bloomington (Calif.) High, Beatty played 2 seasons at San Bernardino Valley Community College before coming to Azusa Pacific. He started 12 of 18 games during his 2-year Cougar career. As a 1992 junior, he was third on the team in tackling with 41 take-downs, including a single-game, career-high 13 vs. Whittier.

“It’s great to have former Cougar like Bo back again with us,” said Santa Cruz, who took over the Azusa Pacific reins this past December after serving the previous 5 seasons as a coordinator. “Bo has excellent knowledge of the game, and he brings a great deal of passion to the field.”

For the past 6 years, Beatty has concentrated on his teaching career. He is currently the athletic director and head of the physical education department at Traweek Middle School in West Covina, Calif. He briefly returned to coaching in 2004 to assist on the staff at Covina (Calif.) High.

Loumagne, who will oversee the Cougar secondary, begins his first collegiate coaching assignment after spending 30 seasons on the local high school level. For the past 5 years he was the head coach at Western Christian High in Covina, leading the Lancers to the CIF playoffs in 3 seasons. In 2001 he was named the Christian League Coach of the Year after guiding the Lancers to the conference title. Prior to his time at Western Christian, he spent 19 years on the coaching staff at Baldwin Park (Calif.) High, where he is also in his 25th year teaching biology.

A former San Dimas (Calif.) High standout, Loumagne graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with a bachelor’s degree and later earned his master’s in physical education from Azusa Pacific.

“Steve brings a wealth of experience to our staff,” Santa Cruz added. “He has a long history with San Gabriel Valley high schools. I’m most excited about his heart for the players and his track record of building champions through the vehicle of football.”

Beatty and Loumagne are the first new additions to the Santa Cruz-led Cougar staff.