Mustangs nearly back at full strength

Rick Devereux

When it rains it pours.

At least that’s the case for the Costa Mesa High athletics

program.

At a press conference Wednesday Principal Fred Navarro and

Assistant Principal Kirk Bauermeister announced the hiring of Tom

Baldwin as head football coach, Paul Serio as head wrestling coach

and Nicole Price as boys and girls track and field coach. The final

rounds of interviews for the head baseball coach position were

conducted Wednesday. The boys athletic director position remains

vacant.

The wave of coaching hirings comes 2 1/2 weeks after it was

revealed that former boys athletic director and head football coach

Dave Perkins was fired, the latest in a shake-up of coaching spots

for the Mustangs where Doug Deats resigned as the baseball coach,

Glenn Mitchell stepped down as track coach and Bob Serven resigned as

basketball coach.

Navarro said that while all of the coaches were announced on one

day, the actual process of hiring each one was not that easy.

“This was not just one day of work,” he said. “There is lots of

paperwork involved.”

Baldwin and Price both assume head-coaching roles after being

longtime assistants at Costa Mesa in their respective sports. Serio,

who will also teach seventh-grade health along with ninth- and

10th-grade biology at the school, is embarking in a program that has

had a roller-coaster-like history.

The wrestling program folded last year after beating Estancia and

Corona del Mar the year before. Navarro said there was a trend at the

school of having a couple of good years followed by a couple of bad

seasons once star wrestlers graduated.

“I’m walking in cold,” Serio said. “I think it will be a three- to

five-year process [to become competitive]. It will take some

patience.”

Serio has been involved with Corona del Mar wrestling for over

eight years and has spent the past six years as referee.

Price has been an assistant the past three years for the track and

girls soccer teams. She also teaches at the school.

The fact that all of the new coaches -- Baldwin teaches economics

-- are on campus was a big factor in Navarro’s decision.

“[On-campus coaches] are what everybody’s goal is,” Navarro said.

“They see a different side of the kids. If you don’t have on-campus

coaches, you lose something.”