For the home team

Mike Sciacca

Mike Groscost walked away from Huntington Beach High School’s annual

spring football game at Cap Sheue Field with a cautious optimism.

Groscost has been involved with this game before, both as a player and

as an assistant coach. He has witnessed such optimism on several of those

previous occasions and in some instances, that exuberant anticipation in

the spring translated to a fruitful season in the fall.

But during last Thursday’s game, Groscost’s perspective was a bit

different as he viewed the contest in a whole new role: that of head

coach.

“I really liked what I saw from the kids,” Groscost said. “The energy

was high and morale was great. But it’s hard to come away with an

concrete picture of what to expect because it’s not football in pads.”

The spring game coincided with a Lift-a-Thon weight room fund-raiser,

where moneys raised would be used for much-needed upgrades to the

football locker room.

While he may be green in the head coaching department, Groscost is

pure orange and black when it comes to Oiler football.

He played along the offensive and defensive lines while at Huntington

Beach High and was part of the 1983 Oiler squad that won a portion of the

Sunset League championship and advanced to the second round of the CIF

Southern Section playoffs.

A graduate of Cal State Long Beach with a degree in history and a

masters in education, Groscost has been involved in high school coaching

for the past 15 years.

Huntington Beach High Athletic Director Dave Van Hoorebeke has known

Groscost since he was a student. After Groscost graduated, he coached on

the sophomore team with Van Hoorebeke.

“Mike has always shown a great amount of enthusiasm in whatever he has

done whether it is in the classroom or on the field,” Van Hoorebeke said.

“He wants the student athlete to work hard and he will demand much from

him. But, he also wants that person to enjoy the moment, to have fun.”

That is why he feels Groscost will bring a lot to the team, he said.

“I believe he will generate a lot of enthusiasm in our program,” Van

Hoorebeke said. “He has an outstanding approach to the job and I think in

the long run he will end up a success.”

Groscost has coached at every level and all positions, both on offense

and defense. Nine of those 15 years have been spent with the Huntington

Beach High program, including the first six of his career.

From there, he spent the next six years at Costa Mesa High School

before returning to his alma mater.

In March, Groscost became the 17th man to be named head varsity

football coach at a school where records show the first “official” team

was fielded in 1921, under its first head coach, Harry Walker.

“I’m honored and thrilled to be coaching at Huntington,” said the

36-year-old, a lifelong resident of Surf City. “This is such a beautiful

school with a rich history and this is a great community to live in.”

The Oilers’ spring game included some 75 players, which was an

encouraging number to Groscost, who teaches advanced placement government

and sociology at the school.

Groscost inherits a team that was 2-8 last year. A good, returning

core from that team for the 2002 season is a group of players who went

8-2 as freshmen.

But how that transition from a successful freshmen season, to their

upcoming senior year, plays out, remains to be seen.

“I told the kids from day one that I came here to win,” he said. “Some

of these kids have had a taste of what it’s like to win. I’ve told them

that I don’t care what has happened in the past with this program.”

The next order of business for Groscost and his staff will be the

Huntington Beach Oiler Football Camp, which begins Monday and runs

through Aug. 2.

Returning junior varsity and varsity players, along with the incoming

freshmen class, will take part in a camp that encompasses weightlifting,

conditioning and personal instruction in football skills.

Groscost says he’ll use a hands-on approach in his first camp, with a

strong emphasis placed on the incoming freshmen.

“I’m really looking forward to working with these kids one-on-one,” he

said.

Groscost truly is home. In fact, his Oilers will only venture from the

friendly confines of Sheue Field just once this fall, and that isn’t

until the sixth week of the 10-game regular season schedule.

He’ll get his initial look at his first Oiler team in a Sept. 6

scrimmage with Long Beach Wilson. On the following Thursday, Sept. 12,

Huntington Beach launches the Mike Groscost era at home against Los

Amigos in the regular season opener.

“That seems like a long way off but I know it will be here faster than

I know it,” he added.

* MIKE SCIACCA covers sports and features. He can be reached at (714)

965-7171 or by e-mail at michael.sciacca@latimes.com.

FYIThe Huntington Beach Oiler Football Camp will run from June 17 to

Aug. 2 on campus. Players from the incoming freshman class will report

daily from 8 to 10 a.m. Varsity members will follow from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The cost per camper is $150 and includes a “spirit pack” of shorts and

a T-shirt plus six weeks of personal instruction in football skills,

weightlifting and conditioning by coach Mike Groscost and the Oiler

coaching staff.

For more information call coach Mike Groscost at (714) 536-2514.