Title-winning coach aims to turn around Mountain View’s football team

“To me, (the players) came looking like they’re expecting to lose instead of coming to give their best,” he said of the historically strong program, which had just 11 players last season

Now, the 57-year old DeSantis is tasked with transforming the culture at Mountain View, and bringing out the best in those same players.

DeSantis will return to the sidelines this fall to coach the Saints, who finished 0-7 last season.

“The kids always played hard. They had a little swagger with them, the way they walked around,” said DeSantis, who was hired in June. “I noticed over the past couple years that they had lost that. I’m just hoping they get that back.”

Mountain View qualified for the Class 2A playoffs from 2007-13 and reached the state championship game three times during that time frame.

But the Saints haven’t reached the postseason since 2013 and have struggled to field the necessary number of players to compete at a high level due in part to low enrollment numbers — there are 295 students from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade.

DeSantis has the pedigree to change that.

He had two separate stints as the head coach of The Meadows in Summerlin during the 1990s and 2000s, leading the Mustangs to nine state championship games, seven state titles and a then-record 41 consecutive wins before focusing on the role of athletics director, which he had held since 1993.

He was itching to get back onto the sideline, though, and Saints coach-turned-principal Ray LeBoeuf was eager to hire somebody of DeSantis’ caliber.

“I’ve known him for a long time, coaching against him,” said LeBoeuf, who stepped back from coaching to focus full time on administrative duties. “He’s one of the reasons why we had some of our success. He was willing to put in the time to meet with us as we were growing an 11-man program.”

DeSantis is a little concerned with the lack of participation and said he’ll see where the team stands when it starts practice in August.

“The idea is not to win the first, second, third game. The idea is to get better at the end of the year,” he said. “If not, we win a couple games and it’s the right step … You’ve got to fail to be successful.”

He’ll have twins Tyrell and Terrence Brooks at his disposal.

“It’s something new. Everybody likes to have something new,” quarterback Tyrell Brooks said. “When I got to meet him, I really enjoyed talking to him … It seems like he’s going to help us change what’s going on at the school.”

Terrence Brooks said he’s hoping for a strong senior season and expects at least 15 players to join the team.

“We have a new coach. We’re starting a new thing,” he said. “How we work at practice. How we do things at practice. How we play. How we think about games … (We want to) be able to leave something before we go.”

And so does DeSantis.

“Coaches have it in them. It’s just something that I’ve done and have a passion for,” he said. “That’s all.”