Coaching is all in the family

If a member of the Costa Mesa Pop Warner Junior Midget Mustangs calls out “Coach Baume,” problems may ensue.

There are four men who could go by that title, plus a player administrator.

Gary Baume is the head coach. His sons Dan and Sean are the offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator, respectively. His brother, Steve, is the equipment and first aid coach, while his father, Ed, is the player administrator.

There are a couple other assistant coaches, but for the second straight year, the Junior Midget Mustangs coaching staff is primarily a Baume family affair.

All of the Baume sons and grandsons are graduates of Costa Mesa High and the Mustangs football program, Gary and Steve in the 1970s and Dan and Sean in the 1990s.

Gary Baume coached at Costa Mesa High under former head coach Jerry Howell in the late 1990s, including a couple of years of coaching his two sons. After taking a few years off, he returned last year as a Pop Warner volunteer and decided to bring the family along.

“That was one of my goals,” said Gary Baume, 49, following a recent team practice at Balearic Park. “I told everyone I wanted to take it on as a family thing, for a number of different reasons. I thought it’d be a great example to a lot of the kids, that they have three generations of positive role models on the team.”

Ed Baume has been around youth sports in Costa Mesa for decades and served as the Costa Mesa Pop Warner President during the 1990s.

“I knew Pop Warner himself,” said Ed Baume, 78, jokingly.

During that same time period, Gary Baume was coaching sons Dan and Sean in Pop Warner football and eventually on the Costa Mesa High Mustang football team.

Dan (Costa Mesa High class of 1998) and Sean (class of ‘99) were part of the 1997 Costa Mesa High team that finished with a school-record 10 wins and got to the CIF Southern Section Division VIII quarterfinals.

Dan played quarterback and wide receiver and Sean played linebacker. Now Dan is offensive coordinator and Sean is defensive coordinator for the Costa Mesa Pop Warner Junior Midget Mustangs.

“As long as the kids give 100%, that’s what matters,” said Dan Baume, 26. “If they do that, that’s all that matters. A lot of these kids are first-year players, so there’s a lot of repetition. The kids do listen very well — they understand intimidation and don’t want to run a lot.”

Assistant coach Steve Baume — Gary’s brother — is the equipment and first aid coach, taking care of any equipment issues that may arise for the team of 11- to 13-year-olds.

“He’s the mechanic of the family,” Gary Baume said. “Any time there’s an equipment issue, he’s there with his little kit to replace it. It’s nice to have that taken care of.”

Last year, the Baumes’ Costa Mesa Pop Warner Junior Mustangs team won just three games, but received a higher honor.

The team was selected to receive the Warren Ferguson Sportsmanship Award for the Orange Empire Conference, which covers all of Pop Warner Football for Orange County and parts of Los Angeles County.

“In the conference, there’s over 40 junior midget teams,” Ed Baume said. “Officials are given a card at each game and they rank the sportsmanship of the team, and we won that award.”

Ed Baume said he personally knew Ferguson, the late OEC deputy commissioner.

“He was just a great guy,” Ed Baume said. “It was particularly meaningful for me because I knew Warren, and it was great for our kids.”

Now the Baumes have a new Junior Midget team to work with and they’re busy trying to iron out the kinks. The team practices four nights a week before games start and three nights a week during the season.

Games start on Sept. 2, continuing on Saturdays for 10 weeks.

“We’ve all lived in Costa Mesa pretty much our whole lives,” Gary Baume said. “It’s a great community, and that’s one of the reasons we like coaching. It’s a great community service opportunity for us to hopefully offer encouragement for young athletes who want to learn.

“We have four pillars of growth: believe, prepare, perform and win,” he continued. “We want the kids to adopt those basic principals in their lives. Then, no matter what they do, they’ll be successful at it.”

The team will play all of its home games at Costa Mesa High, where Ed and Steve Baume will keep statistics for the Mustangs high school football team this fall.

Sean Baume, 25, said he’s grateful for the time he gets to spend with his family on the practice field.

“Obviously, to spend time with family is a bonus,” Sean Baume said. “But we’re out here for the kids, first and foremost.”

“After my dad gave me the proper offer, I took the job,” he added with a grin.

Ed Baume said he loves doing things for the kids, even after all these years. A Costa Mesa Mayor’s Award winner in 1999, he has also supported youth baseball, Junior All-American Football and Costa Mesa High baseball over the years.

“My wife [Noreen] says, ‘When are you going to quit,’” he said. “But I’m only 78.”

His family and the Junior Midget players alike appreciate the effort.