Mustangs kicking up high spirits

Patrick Laverty

While the girls athletic teams at Costa Mesa High were reeling off

one league title after another, and seven in all, last season, the

success of the boys programs in the school’s first year in the Golden

West League was much more marginal.

League championships in football and swimming were offset by

struggling seasons in soccer, volleyball and tennis and a lack of

playoff participation in basketball and baseball.

But despite the lack of across-the-board success, the move from

the more competitive Pacific Coast League to the Golden West League,

where Costa Mesa is competing with schools closer to its enrollment

range, was still beneficial.

“We competed much better in a lot of sports, particularly track

and boys water polo,” first-year boys athletic director Dave Perkins

said. “Overall, we finished much better.”

As football coach, in addition to his athletic director duties,

Perkins was responsible for one of the two league championships, and

only the second outright league championship in football in the

Mustangs’ 43-year history, in boys athletics last year. He has also

built a strong foundation in football, going 15-7 in his first two

seasons since arriving from Estancia High.

Perkins became the boys athletic director in December, replacing

Kirk Bauermeister, who became an assistant principal at the school.

Serving as an athletic director for the first time since 1980, his

second of two years as AD at Imperial High, Perkins’ transition was

eased by Bauermeister’s continued presence on campus.

“It’s huge,” Perkins said. “Kirk knows the problems that arise.

It’s always nice to have a positive wind blowing in the

administration when there are needs in the athletic department.”

The balance between football coach and athletic director is also

aided by the girls athletic director, a position that now belongs to

Sharon Uhl after Pat Leahy retired.

“You just try to do the best you can,” Perkins said. “I’m lucky to

have Sharon Uhl, who was just hired as girls athletic director.

Sharon has a lot of energy. She can help me a lot at certain times

during the football season and then when that’s over, she can

concentrate on her softball coaching duties and I can help out.

There’s also a lot of cooperation from the people in the

administration.”

One of Perkins’ primary goals upon taking over the athletic

director position was improving the Mustangs’ facilities. Costa Mesa

added a second softball field last season and the city and school

continue to look at the possibilities of adding a new pool and a

possible on-campus football stadium.

The Mustangs currently share Orange Coast College with a handful

of teams and at times, are forced to play their home games at Newport

Harbor High, which requires a bus ride that makes the games feel much

like an away game.

While Orange Coast sits across the street from the high school, it

doesn’t provide the revenue that Costa Mesa would bring in with an

on-campus stadium. Orange Coast controls the concessions, further

limiting the Mustangs’ monetary intake on the school’s biggest

revenue provider.

Improvements to the facilities are reliant upon that money and

those that are taking place on the Costa Mesa campus are a result of

outside organizations coming in and paying for renovations.

AYSO and Pop Warner were two such organizations Perkins mentioned

as contributing to the improved facilities as Costa Mesa, in return

for using the fields. The soccer organization is considering adding

lights to the utility field at the high school, while Pop Warner is

looking at making significant upgrades to the football field.

Lest anyone think that Perkins favors his team, he has actually

gone out of the his way during his first year on the job to make sure

that is not the case.

“I think I actually go the other direction to make sure that

perception is not out there,” Perkins said. “Last year my biggest

goal was to get two softball fields on campus and now our varsity

softball field is top notch.”

As for the staff of coaches at Costa Mesa, it is a mix of young

and old, experience and newcomers.

Joe Busi has returned to the staff to coach cross country. He

guided the girls team from 1993 to 1998 and the boys from 1994 to

1998.

Water polo and swimming coach Bob Shupp enters his final season

with the Mustangs in his second stint with the school. He is planning

to retire after this season.

Another coach that returned to Costa Mesa is baseball coach Doug

Deats, a Costa Mesa alum who first coached the baseball team from

1994-1997.

Basketball coach Bob Serven is entering his fifth season at the

helm of the boys hoops squad and guided the Mustangs to three

consecutive playoff appearances before finishing 10-16 last year.

Soccer coach Eugene Day enters his fourth season with the

Mustangs. Tom Baldwin will be serving as Costa Mesa’s golf coach for

the eighth straight season. Tennis coach Bill Harader, who still

plays on the senior circuit, enters his third year at the helm. In

track, Glenn Mitchell will begin his second year as head coach after

assisting with the distance runners. Volleyball’s Dave Sorrells, who

in 2002 led the Mustangs to their first playoff game since 1999,

rounds out Costa Mesa’s coaching staff.

The one question mark is in wrestling. Last year’s coach, Brett

Shainfeld resigned to pursue his teaching degree. Perkins said the

Mustangs should hire a new coach within the coming weeks.

His task, along with that of the other boys coaches at Costa Mesa

High, is to build upon last year’s improvements and attempt to

achieve the same type of success that the girls teams as Costa Mesa

High produced in the Golden West League.