Espinosa trades Trojan blue for Cardinal red

As the St. Mary’s High School volleyball team went through its pre-game drills Tuesday morning at the first annual Truman High School Team Camp, Mariel Saunders glanced over at the Raytown South bench and saw a familiar face.

Mike Espinosa, who coached and taught at St. Mary’s 28 years, was prepping three of his players for the upcoming match.

“Where are your players?” Saunders asked.

“They’re afraid of you,” joked Espinosa, whose Cardinals claimed a 25-25, 23-23 victory over the Trojans.

“I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to sleep a wink last night,” said Espinosa, who had not faced the Trojans in the first-year camp. “It’s going to be different coaching against the girls I’ve coached and known forever.

“I’ve known Krista (Daniels, who replaced Espinosa as head coach) since she was in the first grade. She’s the youngest kid who ever came to our camps.”

Espinosa then turned his attention to the present-day Trojans players and added, “I coached the moms of four girls out there – and I’ve known most of them since they were little kids. This is really a bittersweet day for me – I’m thrilled to be coaching at Raytown South, but it seems strange to be coaching against St. Mary’s.”

Daniels gave Espinosa a big hug when she arrived in the gymnasium and the former coach and pupil visited about their respective teams.

“It’s strange seeing him in red, and not blue,” Daniels said, referring to their respective school’s colors. “I learned so much from him. Both of our teams are playing in a summer league out in Oak Grove, and we haven’t played yet, but I still hear his voice in the gym.

“When he calls out to his players, I always turn to see what he has to say – out of habit. He has the kind of voice that you can’t miss.”

Espinosa was an icon at St. Mary’s, leading the Trojans to five final fours – 1987, third; 1988, fourth; 1994, second; 1997, fourth; and 2006, fourth.

The 2010 Trojans also went to state, and that was Daniels’ first team as the head coach.

“A lot of good memories,” said Espinosa, who left the school in 2010 to pursue other interests. “Back in 1982, they didn’t have a teacher’s position open, so I coached freshman football and freshman girls basketball. I was also working full time at a sports shop in Bannister Mall, so I went to open the shop and worked there from 9 a.m. to noon, then I went to St. Mary’s to coach the freshman football and freshman girls basketball teams and then I was back at Bannister Mall from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.”

That routine went on for two years. Then a teacher’s position opened, but there was one caveat.
“If I took the teaching position, I had to take over the varsity volleyball team,” Espinosa said, grinning, “and I didn’t know anything about volleyball.”

So Espinosa called his older brother, Larry, who was on coach Joe Maloney’s staff at Penn Valley Community College.

“I went to Penn Valley and watched their practices and tried to pick up everything I could,” he said. “Joe was a great coach. In fact, I still use some of the things I learned from Joe and Larry at Penn Valley.”

He paused for a moment, and added, “You want to talk about a small world? I replaced Joe as the head coach at Raytown South. How about that?”

Espinosa got a call from Raytown district activities director Bob Glasgow in April. He was looking for a coach to fill the vacancy at South.

“I was really excited to get the call from Bob,” Espinosa said. “I’m back in the saddle and ready to go. I really like the girls on this team – they are so athletic, and a few of them are playing club ball.

“I’m still learning them, and they’re learning me and real soon we’re all going to be on the same page.”

And how about getting accustomed to his new Cardinal red coaching gear?

“I’ll get used to it,” he said. “I used to bleed Trojan blue, now, I bleed Cardinal red.”