Mesa hires Weber
Phil Weber has been involved with the Costa Mesa High boys’ basketball program as a player and coach for 11 seasons. His familiarity with the Mustangs helped him take over the team.
Sharon Uhl, the school’s athletic director, said Costa Mesa has named Weber as the interim coach because of Weber’s close ties with the Mustangs. Weber, an assistant with Costa Mesa the last seven seasons, two of the past three on varsity, is the fourth coach to lead the Mustangs since 2011-12.
Weber, the junior varsity coach last season, earned a promotion.
“We have 12 seniors on our team and he had been under [the previous two head coaches], Mike [Molina] and Dan [Krikorian], the last three years,” Uhl said. “We wanted continuity and consistency with those players and not change styles and systems.”
Uhl said Costa Mesa did not interview any other applicants for the position, which became open after Molina stepped down in August. She said the reason for not holding interviews was that the season is right around the corner, the Mustangs’ first game is at home against Santa Ana on Nov. 23.
“Anybody who is anybody [in coaching] already has a job,” said Uhl, adding that the school plans to give Weber a season to see how he and the program perform before determining whether to stick with Weber or go in a different direction.
Weber’s interim situation is similar to that of Molina’s first season in 2013-14. Molina earned the permanent job after guiding the Mustangs to a 19-9 overall record, tying the program’s single-season record for wins.
There is a lot of optimism at Costa Mesa for another successful season. The Mustangs return four starters, Mason Tufuga, Nabeel Salameh, Calvin Ko and Chris Calderon, off a team that finished 9-18 overall and 2-8 in the Orange Coast League. Costa Mesa placed last in league with archrival Estancia and bowed out in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 4AA playoffs.
The Mustangs are expected to contend for a league title. They last won league in 2005-06, when Weber was a junior at Costa Mesa. Weber played on the JV team that year.
Weber, who will be a walk-on coach just like the previous four coaches at Costa Mesa, said he’s excited for the opportunity to lead a varsity team for the first time. He turns 26 on Saturday, the job is an early birthday gift.
“Under Dan I learned a lot about Xs and Os and under Mike how to make the players better people,” said Weber, who will have two leftover assistants from Krikorian and Molina’s staff, Tony Krikorian and Brian Molina.
Mike Molina, who recommended Weber for the job, believes the administration made the right hire. The two played together on varsity in 2006-07, Weber’s senior season and Molina’s sophomore season.
“He has been a great assistant to not only myself over the past two seasons, but also to Dan and Coach [Bryan] Rice during their time at Costa Mesa,” said Molina, who left his alma mater to become an assistant men’s basketball coach at Chapman University. “I have no doubt Phil will do a tremendous job in leading this group and also taking on the responsibility of heading an entire program.”
