CHULA VISTACHULA VISTA — From the time he entered the Olympian High School softball dugout, coach Mike Gross has made in impact. Not even the worst pandemic in a century could prevent him from assisting his players, and others.
The 54-year old retired San Diego County budget manager and father of three daughters with great success coaching on the youth level took over an Olympian program in 2015 that was 5-15 the year before.
His steadying influence had an immediate effect. The Eagles went 19-10 and beat Vista 3-1 to win the San Diego Section Division III title at UCSD.
“Not a bad start,” itted Gross, a 1983 Kearny High graduate. “There was really some good talent there. We had some seniors that just needed a fresh start, along with some good young freshmen.”
Sustaining a program while playing in the brutal Metro Mesa League would always be the big challenge.
“It’s an odd dynamic,” explained Gross of the league that features perennial CIF finalist Bonita Vista and Mater Dei Catholic. “Our goal is to win league, of course, but it’s pretty much us and a whole bunch of Open Division teams. We’re always like their ‘little sisters.’”
With those 2015 freshmen now seniors, Gross made another playoff run in 2018. Despite finishing third in league, the Eagles racked up a 23-10 record, including a 7-0 win over Brawley in the Division II Championship game.
“We started 3-7 and then went on a 21-3 roll,” Gross said.
The Eagles only got to play six games this year before everyone’s life changed.
“At first we thought we might get back after spring break, but then things spiraled,” said Gross, who also regularly substitute teaches at Olympian. “We had Zoom meetings every week to stay ready.”
As hopes for the season faded, Gross felt compelled to honor his team by posting pictures and stories of each player on varsity and JV on social media.
“I wanted them to know they’re not forgotten and what they’ve meant to me and the program,” he said. “It was the only way to get them some recognition.
“It’s a tough blow for everyone, but all the spring athletes were just forgotten. They got nothing. The seniors had their lives torn apart.”
He started doing videos reading the names of graduates as they would be announced at a traditional commencement ceremony. First he did it for his school, but then the demand quickly grew.
“It was a natural for me since I have the recording equipment,” he explained. “It just exploded. I was getting 20-30 e-mails a day. I got over 380 requests from 36 different schools.”
In June, NBC 7 San Diego did a story of Gross’ videos after being alerted to it by a parent of an Eastlake student who worked at the station.
Three years ago Gross started using his voice as an announcer/emcee. What started as volunteering to announce for the Olympian basketball team has turned out to be much more. He’s the public address announcer of several colleges and high schools and would go as far as Las Vegas for jobs.
“I lost hundreds of jobs in one day,” he continued. “Things just fell apart.”
Gross also owns a business that offers professional recruiting consulting and advising for students.
I teach the students and their parents how to get recruited and help if they want it for a monthly fee,” he said. “They can walk away any time they want. They don’t need to spend thousands of dollars to be recruited.”
Gross has concerns for the plan to combine all three seasons into two. How do students, coaches and officials deal with conflicting sports?
“Let’s just pray we get to go back in October,” he concluded.
Kevin J. Farmer is a freelance writer.
