Brad Meza has been hired as the new head coach for the Hart baseball team, the school announced Monday.
He replaces Jim Ozella, who resigned after serving as the head coach for 25 seasons. Ozella won his first CIF-SS title on the school on Friday night.
Meza is a Hart alumnus and was part of the school’s baseball team that was Foothill League champions in 2014 and 2015 and reached the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship game in 2015.
He also served as an assistant coach at Hart before being hired as the head coach at Valencia in 2022.
“Coach Meza believes that through discipline, fundamentals, hard work and competition, his student-athletes will gain the necessary life tools to live successful lives both on and off the field,” the school statement said.
Mesa said accepting the head coach position was a “long-term family decision.” Meza’s wife works at Hart and his brothers and sister also attended the school. He’s been going Hart games since he was a kid.
“The tradition of Hart High School is rooted deep and it’s something that’s very hard to explain,” Meza said. “It’s of a feeling more than anything. But with Hart baseball, it’s doing things right, being a good teammate and just that drive to understand that you’re playing for something more than yourself.”
Meza led Valencia to the Foothill League title in 2023 and compiled an overall record of 53-32-1 at the school.
Prior to that, he had helped coach at the freshman and varsity levels at Hart starting in 2018.
Hart (26-5) was the Foothill League champion this season and won the CIF-SS Division 2 championship by beating Moorpark, 7-6.
That was Hart’s final game with Ozella as head coach. Hart chose not to continue its season in the CIF Southern California Regional playoffs.
“I learned mostly everything I know about coaching and playing from coach Ozella,” Meza said.
“He’s the reason why I’m here today. He gave me an opportunity to come back after college and coach freshman baseball for him and the next year he brought me up to varsity. He told me back then he saw something in me. I kind of took that and ran with it.”
Hart will also change its mascot in the fall and will be known as the “Hart Hawks” after previously being the “Indians.”
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