By Danny Kelleher
Editor-In-Chief
After nearly a decade-long hiatus, Jimmy Chaney is back and ready to take the Mira Costa wrestling team to new heights.
Chaney was previously head coach of the Costa wrestling team from the 1991-92 season to the 2001-02 season. During his tenure, the varsity team boasted seven consecutive Bay League titles, multiple individual CIF finishers, and a second-place team finish in CIF, all feats the team has failed to accomplish in recent years.
After Chaney left the program in 2002, he continued his job as a pastor at Manhattan Beach’s Church of the Beach Cities, which he founded in 1985. An unlikely encounter brought him back to Costa.
“[Last year’s wrestling head coach] Quinn Ryan actually approached me at church last year,” Chaney said. “He told me he was head coach now and asked if I wanted to come and help out at practices.”
When Ryan left after one year, Chaney was unexpectedly thrust into the head coaching spot once again.
“I would say there is definitely a tighter leash on us,” sophomore varsity wrestler Jacob Hands said. “And I mean that in a good way. We’re more controlled and more disciplined this year.”
Chaney’s coaching is complemented by two former Costa wrestlers, Erik Anderson and Adam Pyke, as assistant coaches. Anderson, a black belt in jiujitsu, brings a new twist to Chaney’s traditional style.
“I try to make them respect each other and to teach them as much discipline as possible, while also bringing different tactics and strategies than the ones I learned in high school,” Anderson said.
There are currently more than 40 underclassmen on the team, a substantially larger amount than Costa teams of recent years.
“I went into the P.E. classes [starting last year] and taught wrestling to all the freshmen,” Chaney said. “I invited those kids who seemed to enjoy it onto the team. That’s what I also did in the 1990s, and that’s why we had really strong teams.”
At the Peninsula High School frosh/soph wrestling tournament two weeks ago, 13 Costa underclassmen finished in the top two spots of their weight classes, and all 19 finished in the top four. Success like this makes Chaney optimistic about the team’s future in the coming years.
“I think these guys have the potential to become even better than [the teams of the 1990s],” Chaney said.
With sons set to wrestle for Costa for the next eight years, Chaney plans to stay as coach at least until they have graduated.
“With the juniors and seniors, my goal has been to help them as individuals go as far as they can,” Chaney said. “But my goal for the freshmen and sophomores is to get a lot of kids out and start having teams, as well as individuals, go far and do well.”
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