DEMANDING SUCCESS; AT TAFT, THEY DO IT STARR'S WAY OR THEY DISAPPEAR.

Byline: Vincent Bonsignore Daily News Staff Writer

Success has become so common for the Taft High football team recently that it's hard to remember the mess Troy Starr inherited when he took over as head coach five years ago.

The Toreadors lacked discipline, polish and work ethic. The year before he arrived, they were winless in 10 games.

Yet it was Starr's decisive actions during that first season that laid the foundation for the current prosperity. Like the day he halted a practice and told 18 players to get lost. Starr couldn't get them to sit down long enough for roll call, so he simply kicked them off the team.

``I chased them out of there,'' he said.

A standard was set that day, and the remaining Toreadors learned a valuable lesson: If you aren't willing to challenge yourself, embrace hard work and accept discipline, than don't bother attending practice.

Taft played for the City Section 3-A championship that year, completing a remarkable transformation from laughingstock to powerhouse. The Toreadors have gone 60-12-1 under Starr's fiery leadership, including a trip to the City 4-A championship game last year. They play Sylmar on Friday night in the 4-A semifinals.

Starr determined long ago he would settle for nothing less than total dedication, absolute focus and unconditional devotion from the players he coached.

``The first thing my college coach told me when I decided to get into coaching was that if a player wasn't willing to do what it takes to be the best team in the city, than don't even bother with him,'' Starr said. ``So I don't.''

And he won't. Taft begins every season with more than 100 players on its roster. Each year, this season included, about 33 remain at the conclusion. The other 70? As long as they aren't wasting Starr's time anymore - or his team's - he doesn't much care.

Critics sometimes complain Taft always gets key transfers. Starr just laughs.

``They have no idea how many players we lose, no idea at all,'' Starr said.

To a man, the 33 players who do stick it out will tell you it takes a special player to perform for Starr. Somebody who can withstand being yelled at, often. Somebody who doesn't mind working harder than any team in the area. Someone who will sacrifice, pay attention to schoolwork and never put himself ahead of the team.

``I'm sure all 2,000 kids (on campus) will say they can play on this team, but I doubt that is true,'' said Taft linebacker David Melo. ``Everybody on the team has a certain something that they bring.''

Or inherit from their passionate coach.

Like organization. Melo, who transferred from Van Nuys this year, wondered if he had stepped onto a college practice field the first time he worked out at Taft.

``I couldn't believe it,'' Melo said. ``And when I first heard (Starr speak) it was so different from where I had come from. Everyone was so united.''

Starr, who at 35 maintains the boyish good looks and physique that marked his college days, demands a lot from himself, his coaching staff and his players. He is prone to emotional outbursts and won't hesitate to scream at a player to get his attention.

``That's going to happen,'' Melo said. ``He's an intense coach. But that intensity rubs off on us as players.''

Starr's passion for perfection has a lot to do with where he came from. His mother reared him by herself after his father abandoned the family when Starr was 1 month old. They lived in an Ohio neighborhood so poor that Starr once joked, ``When I called my mom last time, she said the crack addicts were leaving because it was so bad.''

Thanks to his love for football, Starr escaped. In college, he was a walk-on linebacker on the Mt. Union (Alliance, Ohio) football team. At the end of his senior year he was named Division III All-America, the first in school history.

After graduating, Starr left for California to coach and be with his future wife, Tana. His first job was at Carson, where he was an assistant for Gene Vollnogle. In 1988, he became defensive coordinator at San Fernando. His trademark soon became an impassioned disposition and an understanding of the problems facing contemporary teen-agers.

Those traits caught the eye of Taft principal Ron Berz, who chose Starr to take over the school's football program after coach Larry Stewart died in 1991.

Under Starr, the Toreadors have become a perennial City Section power and a reflection of their coach, although he never considers his work complete. Every year brings a new set of challenges, each day a different problem to deal with.

``It's a daily process,'' Starr said.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

PHOTO (1--color) no caption (Troy Starr)

(2) Coach Troy Starr's boyish looks belie a fiery approach to the game.

Myung J. Chun / Daily News

(3--color) TROY STARR

Greatest accomplishment: Leading Taft into the City 4-A championship game in 1996.

Worst defeat: Losing to San Pedro in the City 4-A championship game in 1996