Osso set to take Mustangs’ reins

Jeremy Osso sits in a near-empty room next to the Costa Mesa High boys’ locker room. It’s the first week of August, about 10 days before he can conduct practices as the Costa Mesa football team’s new head man.

His youngest daughter, Nessa, who turns 5 in September, keeps running in with something she has to tell her father, pressing herself against his leg, vying for his attention.

His oldest daughter, Laexis, 6, comes in to retrieve Nessa.

Laexis understands better that it’s going to be just a little while before they can have dad’s undivided attention.

Osso is conducting an interview — one of the duties he rarely, if ever, had to deal with the last 10 years when he was an assistant coach — and his daughters aren’t thrilled about it.

“I’m bringing a family atmosphere to Costa Mesa football,” Osso said with a grin.

Osso, 29, also brings an exuberant, can-do attitude to a program that could use it. The Mustangs are coming off back-to-back 2-8 seasons and are on their fourth coach in four years. But Osso seems up to the challenge.

“It has only been hectic because of the high turnover rate at this school,” Osso said. “There’s a lot of catching up to do. But it’s all fun. You want the kind of responsibility you don’t get as an assistant. That’s why you become a head coach.”

Last season, first-year coach Jay Johnson introduced the spread offense, watched his team go 0-7, then switched back to double-wing offense that had been a staple at Costa Mesa prior to his arrival. The move sparked two straight wins, but the Mustangs fell short of making the CIF Southern Section Division VIII playoffs.

Osso planned to return to Costa Mesa as an assistant to Johnson. But when Johnson left after being unable to secure an on-campus job to go along with his duties as football coach, Osso threw his hat into the ring and landed the head-coaching position as a walk on. Now he sets out to try to get the Mustangs back on the winning path.

Osso, who has a 2-year-old son, Jeremy Jr., who goes by J.J., along with his two daughters with his wife, Veronica, had assistant coaching positions in football at Costa Mesa, Estancia, Corona del Mar and Beckman before landing the head coaching job at Costa Mesa.

Osso is looking to provide something the program has lacked — stability.

“Any time you get fluctuation like that, you’re not going to succeed,” Osso said. “And it’s not the kids, it’s the inconsistency of the staff.”

Osso, an Estancia High graduate, played football and baseball for the Eagles.

During his junior football season, he played outside linebacker in a three-four scheme.

As a senior, when the Eagles switched to a four-three scheme, Osso moved to defensive end.

While he may not have had all of the physical tools needed to become a premier player, he used a strong work ethic to get on the football field. He said he brings the same mentality to coaching.

“I worked hard to become an average football player,” Osso said. “I take that work ethic into coaching.”

Three of Osso’s years as an assistant coach were spent as an offensive coordinator, so he considers himself offensive-minded. He likes to run his offense out of the I-formation.

Osso was an assistant football coach at Costa Mesa from 2001-03, serving two seasons as offensive coordinator.

He was an assistant at Beckman in 2004 before sharing the offensive coordinator duties at Corona del Mar last year.

Osso has worked as an assistant coach under Dave Perkins at both Estancia and Costa Mesa.

He also has worked as an assistant baseball coach at Los Alamitos and Estancia.

“I’ve picked things up from all of the coaches I’ve worked with,” Osso said.

Those coaches include Paul Troxel, a former Estancia and Costa Mesa baseball coach who died in 1999 after a heart attack. Osso coached baseball and lower-level football at Estancia with Troxel.

“He taught me that it’s OK to be nice to kids, too,” Osso said. “It’s OK to have a friendship with them. You don’t always have to be on top of them. But in the same respect, you’re still the authority figure. You still need to be the one that sets the tone.”

He also learned from Perkins, who took him in as an assistant when Osso was 19 years old.

“From him I learned you can take young coaches and teach them how to coach,” said Osso, who worked under Perkins for six years.

Osso follows Jerry Howell, Perkins, Tom Baldwin and Johnson at the helm of the Mustangs. He’ll try to instill an exemplary work ethic in his players.

Howell, who resigned in 2001, had the most successful run, going 41-24.

Perkins was fired during the summer prior to the 2004 season over what he said was a misunderstanding about funds from a summer football camp.

Perkins also had success, going 20-12 in three seasons. He led the Mustangs to the Golden West League title in 2002, when Osso was an assistant.

Baldwin led the team on an interim basis in 2004, battling health issues during a season in which the Mustangs went 2-8 and missed the playoffs.

Then came Johnson’s aforementioned one-year stint.

The Mustangs have not been to the playoffs since 2002 and have not won a playoff game since 1997.

Costa Mesa moves from the Golden West League to the newly formed Orange Coast League this season. Estancia, Calvary Chapel, Laguna Beach and Santa Ana-based Godinez are also in the league, though Godinez will not play varsity football this season.

Osso, who in addition to being the head man at home and in the Costa Mesa football program, works part-time as a plate maker for the Los Angeles Times, burning images onto plates. His father, Mike, who is in charge of transportation for the L.A. Times, has worked for the company for more than 20 years.

Osso is full of optimism heading into the season as he tries to transport the Mustangs into winners again.

“When you look at Costa Mesa in the Golden West League, realistically, you really only had two bad years,” Osso said. “Costa Mesa is not long removed from success.”