Grady steps down as Costa Mesa baseball coach

Paul Grady has stepped down as Costa Mesa’s baseball coach, said Sharon Uhl, the school’s athletic director, on Monday.

Uhl said Don Welsher, the junior varsity coach, has been named the interim coach.

“He resigned on Friday [the day before the Mustangs opened the season with a doubleheader at Cerritos] for personal reasons,” Uhl said via text. “[He] wanted to spend more time with his family and be more involved with his kids’ sports.”

Grady, who took over at his alma mater in 2013, never led the Mustangs to the CIF Southern Section playoffs. He went 38-94 overall and 21-53 in the Orange Coast League.

Grady guided Costa Mesa to fourth-place finishes in league the past two years. In his first three years, the Mustangs placed fifth each time in the six-team league.

“I will say that I gave my heart and soul to the program for six years and what we accomplished while I was there can’t be measured in wins and losses,” Grady said in a text.

In his resignation letter to Costa Mesa principal Jake Haley, Grady said it has been made clear that he has taken the baseball program as far as he could and it would fall to someone else to lead it into the future. Grady said he would continue to teach English at the school.

“I also have struggled with being able to watch my own children excel in their endeavors and help them strive toward their future,” Grady said in the letter. “My spirit has recently been torn between my duties as a coach and my responsibilities as a husband and a father.”

david.carrillo@latimes.com

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UPDATES:

Feb. 27, 3:40 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from Paul Grady.

This article was originally published on Feb. 26 at 1:30 p.m.