IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers THANKS, DAD—Royal High girls' volleyball coach Heidi Buonauro, left, asked her father, Bob Ferguson, for help coaching the team this season while she went through her second pregnancy. When seeking volleyball advice, Heidi Buonauro doesn't have to look far.

Buonauro, the girls' head varsity coach at Royal High since 2003, entered this season pregnant with her second child and needed someone to help guide the Highlanders.

In a time of need, she called her father.

Buonauro's dad is Bob Ferguson, a man who's basically a legend around Royal. Ferguson started the girls' program at RHS in 1984 and the boys' team in 1987. Ferguson coached both squads until 2001 when he decided to retire from coaching. He still teaches United States history at the school.

"I basically begged him to coach with me this year," Buonauro said. "I needed a week off to prepare for having the baby, and I knew my father could keep the team going in the right direction."

When Ferguson was still reluctant to return to the bench, Buonauro talked to her mom, Sandy, who coached the junior varsity teams at RHS from 1984 to 2001.

"I wasn't sure about coaching again," Ferguson said. "Then my wife kind of gave me this nudge as if to say, 'You should do this.' That's all it took."

Aside from two weeks ago when Buonauro delivered her baby, the father-daughter combo have coached the Highlanders side-by-side this season.

Although he would eventually enjoy the experience with his daughter, Ferguson initially had a tough time adapting to being an assistant coach.

"When I was a head coach I was very vocal," Ferguson said. "I was known to be a notebook crusher from throwing notebooks on the ground so much. I realized after a few games as an assistant that I can't do that anymore."

Ferguson became more forgiving toward referees after he began working games following the 2001 season.

"What I discovered was that a lot of these referees actually know what they're talking about," Ferguson said. "I always liked the refs, but I was a little egotistical. Now I realize their faults are natural, and people are going to make mistakes."

Although Buonauro is glad her father became less vocal with the refs, she still wanted him to share his opinions on the team.

"At first, he didn't want to sit in the chair next to me during games because he wanted to make it clear that it was my team," Buonauro said. "But I told him that needed to change. I needed his expertise, and I needed to bounce things off him and see what he thought."

Ferguson's expertise is no joke, and his volleyball resume is big enough to fill a Ken Burns documentary. He guided the RHS girls' team to CIF titles in 1989 and 1998, and won CIF championships with the boys' squad in 1989, 1990, 1992 and 1994.

Ferguson was even more dominant in the Marmonte League, where he guided the boys' team to 14 straight league titles from 1988 through 2001, losing just one league match during the period.

"I remember a reporter from another newspaper asking me how I would handle losing, since I was taking over a new program," Ferguson said. "Well, in 14 years we only lost one game in league, so I think I handled it pretty well. . . .

"I was fortunate because I just walked into a hotbed for volleyball. Having my wife coach the J.V. teams also helped because she told me which players to keep and which ones to get rid of."

Ferguson said he remembers the lone league loss that came at Thousand Oaks in 1996.

"This one guy, a father of one of the players, said he would shave his head if Thousand Oaks beat us because we were so good," Ferguson said. "And after the loss, sure enough, he was at center court getting his head shaved.

"Of course, we had a match with T.O. a few weeks later at our place, and we brought out our brooms by sweeping them in three games."

Buonauro, who played for her father on the girls' varsity team from 1993 through 1995— she graduated in 1996—remembers Royal's days as a powerhouse well.

"Everywhere I went, everyone seemed to know my dad," Buonauro said. "Alumni would come up to me and talk about (Ferguson) and sometimes just one certain game.

"You have to realize that although he could be hard on players, he was their father figure for four years. He would never hesitate to put his arm around you and help you out in any way he could."

Buonauro uses a lot of her father's coaching methods these days, but she actually started to believe she could become a coach before attending Royal.

"When I was in junior high we ran these kids' camps for volleyball," Buonauro said. "It was fun teaching the kids all the skills they needed, and it was great to see their reaction when the light sort of hit home and they figured out how to do something."

Buonauro also gets great volleyball advice from her brother, Travis Ferguson, who coached the boys' varsity team at Royal after Bob Ferguson retired, and her current assistant coach Jameel Jubran.

Although Buonauro has now coached at RHS for five years, she never feels pressure to put up as many banners as her father did.

"That's not the way I was raised, I guess," Buonauro said. "I've never felt that kind of pressure at Royal. I've always had the school's support."

Bob Ferguson said he's proud of the coach and person his daughter has become.

"As far as working with her this season, it was no strain on me at all," he said. "She's a great coach, and I don't say that because she's my daughter. She's so well prepared for games it's unbelievable."