Changes aplenty at Mesa

Jay Supple is seemingly filled with excitement because for the first time he’ll guide a team in a varsity sport as girls’ basketball coach at Costa Mesa High. He is one of three new coaches, whom also include Alex Cordoba for boys’ soccer and Fausto Hinojosa for girls’ tennis, the school recently announced.

Supple, an on-campus physical education teacher, appears to be at the right place at the right time. He takes over for Nancy Hatsushi, who was the coach for less than three months. Hatsushi, a former Costa Mesa standout who also starred at Orange Coast College, was hired as the girls’ basketball coach in May, but she moved to Corona and was offered a teaching job in that area, Mustangs Athletic Director Patty Smith said.

Costa Mesa could not totally guarantee a teaching job at its school for Hatsushi, which also factored into the new coach’s decision to resign, said former longtime Mustangs’ coach Jim Weeks, who stepped down after the 2007-08 season.

“She’s getting married and they’re going to buy a house. Houses are cheaper out there,” Weeks said of Hatsushi’s reason to resign. “[The job in Corona] told her that she had to make a decision right away. It was one of those things that she had to made to make a decision.”

Hatsushi could not be reached and did not return phone calls.

Weeks said Hatsushi still coached the girls’ team through the summer and made way for Supple, who takes over a team that finished 19-9 and won its second Orange Coast League title. The Mustangs reached the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division IV-AA playoffs this past season and played in the title game in 2007.

“We have a good program and definitely a good team,” said Supple, 33, who played at Edison High, where he graduated in 1993. “We’ll see what happens. I think we have some good young girls. I think the sky’s the limit for the possiblities in league.”

Supple last worked as a basketball coach in 2005, when he was an assistant for boys’ and girls’ teams at Dale Junior High in Anaheim.

Cordoba, who also teaches P.E. at Costa Mesa, takes over for former coach Eugene Day, who resigned after last season.

Hinojosa, who works at Ensign Intermediate as a community facilitator, will be a varsity girls’ tennis coach for the first time. Weeks coached the team last year.

STEVE VIRGEN may be reached at (714) 966-4616 or by e-mail at steve.virgen@latimes.com.