Kochel Arrested for Alleged Sex With a Minor : Crime: Longtime Ventura High football coach is accused of illicit 7-month relationship with 16-year-old female student.

Ventura High football Coach Harvey Kochel was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of having sexual intercourse with a 16-year-old female Ventura High student.

Kochel, 48, voluntarily turned himself in to Ventura Police Department detectives Wednesday morning, two days after police began an investigation. The acts are alleged to have taken place between March and September, police said.

Ventura police Capt. Pat Rooney said the investigation was launched after school officials brought the allegations to his department’s attention.

Bail was set at $5,000, but Kochel was released on his own recognizance from the Ventura County Jail on Wednesday afternoon. His arraignment has been set for Oct. 7.

Kochel, a health and physical education teacher who has coached at the school since 1981, has been on administrative leave from the Ventura Unified School District since Tuesday. He has been an employee of the district since 1973.

Kochel, who is divorced, declined to comment. “There’s so much I don’t know about what’s going on that I’d just be hurting my own cause by saying anything right now,” he said.

Lela Henke-Dobroth, a deputy district attorney with the county Sexual Assault Unit, would not speculate on a typical length of sentence for the crime, a felony under state and federal law.

Police disclosed no other information about the allegations, including whether the alleged acts were consensual. The student was not identified.

Ventura High and school district administrators declined to explain district procedural guidelines concerning when Kochel might be allowed to return if exonerated, or if the coach would be reinstated.

Ventura Principal Jerry Barshay refused to discuss the matter, and Athletic Director Mickey Perry directed all questions regarding the coaching situation to interim Coach Phil McCune.

Ventura has won or shared six of the past nine Channel League titles and is 3-0 heading into Friday night’s league opener against San Marcos.

McCune, 51, was head coach at Ventura from 1974-80 and rejoined the team as an assistant under Kochel in 1982. He said he plans to share coaching responsibilities with four other assistants.

Kochel, a 1962 Ventura graduate, is the school’s winningest football coach. He took over a struggling program in 1981 and has since posted a record of 77-45-5. The Cougars are ranked fourth in Southern Section Division III and second in the region by The Times.

McCune, a science teacher at Ventura, said he learned of the news Wednesday morning when he was shown a police press release detailing the arrest and the allegations.

“This isn’t the Harvey I know,” McCune said, recalling his initial reaction.

McCune said news of the arrest hit him hard, and he expressed concern that the team might be adversely affected for the remainder of the season.

“They’ll have to deal with this for a long time,” McCune said. “How can you go through something like this and not be affected? Something like this can definitely set you back on your heels.”

Running back Derek Swafford said players met before practice Wednesday and that the prevailing emotion was anger--not directed at anyone in particular but at the turn of events.

“We’re gonna use it (for motivation),” Swafford said. “We’re mad. We’re going to go out and kick some butt.”

McCune said that Kochel’s son, Jake, a junior running back, will remain with the team and that he is expected to play Friday night.

“We need him as much as he needs us right now,” McCune said.

Swafford and many of his teammates seemed in an upbeat, determined mood before Wednesday’s practice. Swafford, a three-year starter, predicted the situation would not be a distraction.

“We’ll win for coach, for Jake, for the team, for everybody,” Swafford said. “I ain’t even worried about it. Our team will be fine, just wait and see.”

Staff writers Kennedy Cosgrove and John Ortega contributed to this story.