Tom Crowther
BURBANK -- Probably not even Bob Eubanks encountered a pair of
newlyweds like the Marcos couple on the game show, "The Newlywed Game."
Let's introduce the pair: He's a high school history teacher and girls'
soccer coach. She's a English teacher and a girls' soccer coach as well
-- please welcome Mike and Lauren Marcos.
The catch? Mike, 25, is winding down his second semester at Burroughs
High, while Lauren, 27, is at cross-town rival Burbank High.
While there is no real competition between the two as far as academics
is concerned, their respective sports teams are suppose to be heated
rivals in athletics.
The Marcoses carpool to work each morning from their Pasadena home,
only to separate between school hours and later meet up again for the car
ride home.
Mike, a world history and government teacher, is also the Indians'
head girls' soccer coach and Lauren is the Bulldogs' junior varsity
coach.
Both were hired as teachers by the Burbank Unified School District
after a joint interview a little less than a year ago.
"It's going to be a year next week, we both started the first day of
the second semester last year" Mike said. "I was in my second interviews,
a formal one with [Burroughs co-Principals Ron Shecklin] and Emilio
[Urioste,] and they liked Lauren and asked her to come in as well. They
had hoped to hire her as well, but at the time, there weren't any
openings. So she ended up at theo7 otherf7 school."
Lauren spent a semester at Burbank teaching math, and this year she
moved to her subject of expertise -- and what she has her bachelor's
degree in -- English. She is a graduate of Northern Arizona University
and is finishing up her teaching credential in an accelerated program at
National University.
Mike, a graduate of UC San Diego, took over the Indianprogram this
year. His father, Michel -- pronounced Michael -- was once a member of
the Egyptian National Soccer Team.
Although Mike and Lauren met while counselors for a San Diego-based
YMCA camp, they haven't had much opportunity to work together. However,
they did work with one another for six weeks at summer school last year.
They hope to have the same opportunity this summer as well.
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Both coaches have had their share of highs and lows this season in
girls' soccer. Lauren's team began with an impressive 7-1-1 record in the
nonleague portion of the schedule. However, her team lost three straight
matches to open Foothill League play.
"They were done a little bit of a disservice because the nonleague
