Rice, Mesa reunited

Bryan Rice has been named Costa Mesa High boys’ basketball coach, the Mustangs’ third coach in as many years. But Rice believes that turnover trend will end because the school is so close to his heart.

He was a College Park Elementary fifth-grader when he would work as a ball boy for the Costa Mesa junior varsity boys’ basketball team. He eventually played for the Mustangs’ varsity in his senior year and graduated from Costa Mesa in 1999. He also later worked as an assistant under Bob Serven at Costa Mesa.

“There are a lot of people that are looking for a basketball coaching job, and they would’ve taken this one,” Rice said. “But this is one that I’ve been wanting. I could see myself here for a while. This is somewhere I hope to be for a long time.”

Rice, who is Mesa’s fourth coach in the past five years, is working in his first varsity coaching job. Hired last month, he’s remained excited as he takes over a team that finished 1-26, 1-8 in the Orange Coast League.

He last coached with Serven in the 2003-04 season, Rice’s only season with Mesa. Before that he worked for Fountain Valley’s program.

Serven is Costa Mesa’s all-time victories leader with a 79-56 record. Costa Mesa finished 17-10 and in third place in the Golden West League in the 2003-04 season, Serven’s final year with the Mustangs.

After coaching with Serven, Rice has been working to become a teacher. He earned his teaching credential two years ago and has been a substitute for the past two years, mainly within the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, hoping for a permanent job to open up.

He originally heard about the coaching job at Costa Mesa after a student told him that the basketball coach at the time, Kevin Palmer, had been fired.

Palmer was fired last month for reasons the school did not provide. Before Palmer, Jeff McDaniel coached one year, succeeding Ryan Schachter’s two-year stint. Schachter left to coach at Corona del Mar, while McDaniel wanted to focus on school and church.

Rice plans to stay much longer and hopes to rebuild the Mustangs.