Los Osos’ new football coach not happy with program’s place in league

The nature of Kevin Price’s ascension to head football coach at Los Osos High School, the position to which he was named on Tuesday, doesn’t exactly inspire change. He has been a member of the coaching staff since the school’s inception in 2002 and the defensive coordinator for the last eight seasons under Tom Martinez, the only head coach the school had ever known.

But Price made clear the bus doesn’t just have a new driver, it’s going in a different direction.

“When we started the program, there were a lot of different rules in place,” he said. “My perspective is different, not necessarily better, but different on things like how much time we will put in now. We’ve had success here in the past but have we had as much success as we wanted? No.”

Los Osos won four Baseline League championships in five years beginning in 2005, Price’s first season as defensive coordinator, and reached the 2009 CIF-SS Central Division championship game. In the last three seasons, during which it hasn’t won a playoff game, Los Osos has finished third in league twice and missed the playoffs once.

League foe Rancho Cucamonga has reached the semifinals of the CIF-SS Inland Division the last three seasons while Upland has won the Baseline League two years in a row.

“There’s no question about it,” Price said, “This league is tough. And we’ve got to give credit to those programs that have done well. When you do what they’ve done, that’s usually where the spotlight goes. But we have talent at Los Osos and we have the desire to compete.”

Until he fills out his coaching staff, Price won’t determine what type of changes if any will be made to the offense or defense. He hasn’t yet decided if he will continue to call the defensive plays.

The Grizzlies defense has ranked third in the Baseline League two of the last three years. In each of Price’s first three seasons as defensive coordinator, Los Osos allowed the least points of any team in league play on the way to three consecutive league titles.

“This is a good situation to be in all the way around,” Price said. “There’s a lot of talent in the area. There’s good support here from the administration, the staff, the parents and the players.”

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