Mike Mooney in the Temple City days
By Tim Peterson
Mike Mooney took over as Head Coach at Temple City in 1999 – about the same year we started covering High School football. He then left Temple City in 2007 for his current position –Vice Principal at San Marino. The Rams were one of our core coverage teams back in the day and we got to know the coach pretty well during his tenure.
Ten years later we figured we knew almost everything there was to know about the guy. But when you get a guy on the Mid Valley Sports show, under the hot lights of the video camera, there is always more to be uncovered.
Here are five interesting things revealed by Mooney Tuesday night.
1. The best team he coached at Temple City was the 2001 edition. The Desmond Reed led Rams went 10-0 and advanced to the second round of the playoffs before falling short to Inglewood. “However the 2006 team had a better offensive line,” Mooney said.
2. Mooney’s father was a coach and a teacher at San Marino from 1964-1979. “I was born and raised as a Titan. I used to run around the black top there all the time. I got my first set of stitches there,” Mooney said. So when he coached at San Marino before coming to TC in ‘99 he already had a lot of familiarity with the school.
3. Mooney had a chance to become a graduate assistant under Larry Smith at Missouri after his (and Smith’s) days at USC were done. He decided not to take it at the time but sometimes looks back on it.
4. He is currently sending out feelers about a coaching position in college football. “Although I love what I’ve been doing for the last couple of years, my real passion is coaching football,” Mooney said. He also said that at 39, he would put his current administrative career on hold if it meant getting back into coaching.
5. He decided to come on the Mid Valley Sports Show after seeing San Marino Coach D.R. Moreland make an appearance on the show earlier this year. “It was a quality piece that inspired me,” Mooney said of the Moreland interview. “I felt compelled to come down and honor your request.”
We’re glad he did. The show was awesome. Check out the complete interview (parts 1 and 2) at www.midvalleysports.com.
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