Afte two head coaching stints at La Mirada totaling 13 years Mike Moschetti left his alma mater to take over as the head coach at St. Paul. Coach Moschetti sat down with Mid Valley Sports recently to tell us what went into his decision and the season ahead.
MVS: While playing quarterback for La Mirada High School what was your greatest memory and or your greatest accomplishment?
MM: My greatest memory in High School was being part of a team that won La Mirada’s first CIF Championship. Getting drafted by the Oakland A’s in the 2nd round was a great memory too.
MVS: Some of us already know but for our readers that may not know where did you play after High School? And did you consider pursuing another sport?
MM: I did not play football immediately after graduation. After getting drafted by the A’s I spent 3 years in the A’s organization before retiring to pursue my passion to play football. I went to Mt. SAC, where we won a national championship. I then spent 2 years at the University of Colorado.
MVS: When did you decide you wanted to be a football coach?
MM: When I was done playing at Colorado, the competitor in me wanted to stay involved and I thought coaching would be a great way to go.
MVS: What was your first coaching job?
MM: My first coaching job was as an offensive assistant coach at the University of Colorado.
MVS: Was it a specific goal of yours to coach at your Alma Mater La Mirada? How special was that to get the opportunity to coach there?
MM: It wasn’t really a goal to coach at La Mirada. As an Assistant Coach at Colorado State–Pueblo, I was on a recruiting trip in California. While visiting La Mirada, I happened to speak to some people who asked if I was interested in coaching High School football. After some discussions, I thought it was a great opportunity and it brought me back home. It was also a great honor to be able to coach at La Mirada with my connection to the city.
MVS: Winning the CIF and State Championships in 2015 had to be your greatest coaching accomplishment at La Mirada, correct? Or was it something else?
MM: Well, while winning a state championship was a great accomplishment for us, getting 50+ student-athletes in 12 years out to play college football was our biggest accomplishment. Three of those guys are now coaching with us at St. Paul. Bryan Peters, who played at Kansas and coaches the O Line, and JT Torres, who played at Colorado and Benedictine College, coaches Running Backs. RJ Lan, who played baseball at TCU and Washington State, is coaching the Secondary. RJ is also the Head Baseball Coach at St. Paul.
Another thing we were proud of, was our relationship with the special education department. We bonded with the staff and the students. We involved them in the program and worked with the kids when we got the opportunity. You might remember Dante Angulo. Dante came to all our practices and games and was a big inspiration to us during our championship runs.
MVS: What coach had the biggest influence on you and why?
MM: Of course, my dad, Joe Moschetti was a big influence on me growing up. He instilled the competitiveness and drive that defines me as a person and as a coach. Another coach that had a lot of influence on me was Tom Cable. Tom was most recently with the Las Vegas Raiders. He also coached with the Atlanta Falcons, and the Seattle Seahawks. He was the Offensive Line Coach at Colorado when I played there. He stressed the importance of education and how to battle through adversity. Coach Cable and I still talk all the time.
MVS: What were the most important factors that led you to take the head coaching job at St. Paul?
MM: One of the reasons I decided to come to St. Paul was to take on the best and be the best we can. As a Catholic, being able to work in a faith-filled environment was a big plus for me. It is a great opportunity for us to help build faith-filled leaders.
MVS: Will you use a different approach at St. Paul than you did at La Mirada? Or will your coaching philosophy remain the same?
MM: Our coaching philosophy will remain essentially the same for the team. We will work hard, be disciplined, and play physical. Our #1 goal is to get out as many players as we can to play college football, and of course, to win a state championship.
MVS: How does the St. Paul squad look this year? Who are some of your key players going into the 2023 campaign?
MM: We’ve got good team speed and are deep at key positions. The kids are smart, and they work hard. They have had to learn a new offense and a new defense and have picked up everything pretty fast. However, there is still an unknown on how the team will react come game time. We are confident they will play the brand of football is known for.
Some of our key players so far include our quarterback, Andrew Maushardt, running back and DB Ty Bowers, and WR Orlando Zepeda. We expect several other players to emerge with great seasons.
Loading ...
it’s about time the school St. Paul stoped enduring and started evolving… it’s sad to see Zappy go but it’s time for a change … and the change was good Thanks Avina for doing you job as the AD and not just playing musical chairs like they normally do at that school … Good luck coach M .. im sure it will be tough but you will get the job done !!!!
Mike Moscetti led an amazing comeback as the quarterback of the Colorado Buffaloes in a game against Nebraska I attended in 1999. I was so impressed by his guts and termination and even more so with his passion for the game, as displayed in his post game interview. He was nearly inconsolable. His passion for the game is enormous and I watched that game in all of a young man who left everything virtually everything on the field that day. I just recently learned doing a Google search that he had been coaching in California for the last couple of decades. It does not surprise me that his programs have been successful.
I, for one, would love to see St. Paul bounce back; not that they’ve fallen as hard as some other past great programs, but still, our old Valley (I happen to amalgamate SGV and Whittier as one–come at me, bro . . . j/k) needs its traditional powers to be as great as they can be given the changes its undergone. I don’t happen to think those changes are SO DETRIMENTAL (unlike some and only some). Good luck, Coach Moschetti.
It doesn’t surprise me that Moschetti is treating Zepeda respectfully. Killing people with kindness gets you a whole lot further than whacking them over the head with criticism. This personality trait is the key reason for his hiring.
This hire was a controversial topic for St. Paul. Many agreed it was time to move on and that Moschetti was the man to do it. Others felt that St. Paul treated one of their own like crap after a bad season and the AD was just waiting for a bad season to pull the plug on Zepeda. Despite all of that, Moschetti has shown class by treating Zepeda with lots of class and by never bad mouthing the previous staff as new coaches seem to often do- even Sean Payton. Kudos to Moschetti for that.
Left out of this interview is the question of why Mike performed poorly in his return to La Mirada. Allow me to speculate that the school told him plainly that they wouldn’t tolerate his type of recruiting, which left him with a thoroughly ordinary team. This coach will have no such problem at a private school, because there, recruiting is fast and loose. It’s THIS factor that makes the St Paul job a good fit for this guy, not so much the faith-filled angle.