Mike Moschetti hired as new St. Paul football coach

Longtime La Mirada football head coach, Mike Moschetti, has been named the new head football coach at St. Paul High School in Santa Fe Springs. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)

SANTA FE SPRINGS – A three-week search for a new head football coach is over at St. Paul High School, with the official announcement of the hiring of former La Mirada football coach Mike Moschetti.

After the release of St. Paul coach Rick Zepeda on February 10, who had been there for the last 10 seasons, athletic director Rich Avina and the staff have been searching for his replacement.

“Coach Moschetti possesses the knowledge, skill and character required of the head coach of our program,” St. Paul principal Robert Miller said. “He brings years of knowledge of the game as well as experience in coaching athletes who have gone on to compete at the college level and beyond. His successes and accolades speak for themselves."

Moschetti, who is a graduate of La Mirada, led the Matadores to their first-ever CIF-SS Championship in 1992.

Moschetti comes to St. Paul with many accolades, beginning in high school and all the way to college.

More than 70 student-athletes coached by Moschetti played college football at schools such as USC, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Alabama, BYU, Utah, Colorado, Texas Tech, Kansas, Army, Air Force, Penn, and Yale.

While at La Mirada in his first nine years (2008-2016) as head coach, Moschetti guided the team to multiple Suburban League titles. Included in those winning years was three CIF Championship game appearances.

His first championship was in his second year (2009) at La Mirada and with coach Ollie Lynch, as they defeated Garden Grove, 49-27 in the Southern Division game.

He won a second title in the CIF Southeast Division in 2015 and went on to win the schools only state championship that year.

In his last season of his first stint as coach, the Matadores lost to Edison in the 2016 D3 title game.

Moschetti, after two years away from the program in 2017 and ‘18, has been coach from 2019 up until this past season.

While in college as a player, Moschetti was the quarterback at Mt. SAC and guided the Mounties to a state title in 1997.

The La Mirada alum then transferred to the University of Colorado for his final two years as a player.

A few years after his playing days were over, Moschetti began his coaching career at his college alma mater, Colorado, and began coaching the quarterbacks. He also coached at Mt. San Antonio College and Colorado State.