Angelini takes reins of Mills football

Rick Angelini was an assistant on last season’s coaching staff. He has since been elevated to head coach and is the latest coach tasked with helping a program that has struggled for most of the last 20 years.

“I knew exactly what I was getting in to,” Angelini said.

A 1997 graduate of Half Moon Bay, Angelini played all three major sports in high school — football, basketball and baseball. Despite receiving a football college scholarship offer, Angelini chose a baseball path after high school that did not pan out the way he would have liked.

After graduating Sacramento State with a degree in philosophy and a minor in ethnic studies, Angelini threw himself into youth sports on the coastside. He spent two decades coaching in the Half Moon Bay Little League and American Legion ranks, while also serving as a Pop Warner football coach.

“I wanted to be around the game. Pass along the magic of sports,” Angelini said. “It helped my life and I almost feel an obligation to pass [my sports knowledge] forward.”

Last season was Angelini’s first at the high school level and he wants to show the Vikings that there is a better way and better days are ahead.

“When I was speaking with [the school administration], I told them they needed more than to hire a new coach, they needed to hire a football program manager,” Angelini said. “There is a whole lot more than X’s and O’s that needs to be taught. A lot more needs to go into it.

“There was a place in my mind, and not to get too squishy, but also in my heart (to help the program). I felt genuinely bad for these kids. … I did not want them to accept last year, or previous years, that that was normal.”

Angelini said his first hurdle was actually getting kids to come out for the football team, which can be tough when a program has been on a downward spiral for years. Athletes don’t want to come out for the team because it loses, but the football team loses because not enough athletes are on the team.

“It’s kind of a catch-22,” Angelini said.

To that end, Angelini is trying to drum up support and hopefully develop a relationship with local middle schools. He said he plans to hold a pep rally at Taylor Middle School and offer the students there free admission to Mills football games.

“We’ll even give them their own section so they can cheer on their friends,” Angelini said.

He hopes that by getting middle schoolers interested in Mills football now, those student-athletes might be more inclined to come out for the team when they get to high school.

Until then, however, Angelini likes what he’s seen so far from the 2022 group.

“I’m really excited. We have a core group of sophomore and juniors, core group of about 25 kids who showed up … every single day (during the summer),” Angelini said. “The core guys are hungry and they want to do whatever is necessary to win. … Makes it way easier to be a coach when you have a core group with that kind of mentality.”

Angelini was even more buoyed after watching his team participate in several passing league tournaments. His biggest takeaway from these 7-on-7 games was his pro-style offense can work, he has a couple of quarterback candidates who can get the ball out and receivers who can get open.

You have got to start somewhere.

“We were able to move the ball really well.”

With the first day of practice slated for Friday, Angelini is ready to hit the ground running. While the goal is to win every game and to prepare to do that, Angelini knows that winning division titles is not what he wants these kids playing for. He wants to put them in the best position to be successful, to be competitive and most importantly, to enjoy playing football.

“All of those things that some may consider fluff — it’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game — I believe in that stuff,” Angelini said. “I’m not coaching for trophies. I’m coaching to give these kids the best experience they can have.

“We don’t have any DI (college) recruits. We may have a couple kids who will have a cup of tea at the JC level. For the other 98%, their last game as a senior will be the last time they pull on a helmet. I want to make sure they maximize everything football has to offer.”