Thursday, Jul. 03, 2008

Garrett stepping down as South’s baseball coach

Carl Garrett’s tenure as head baseball coach at Olathe South has ended after two seasons.

Garrett, who came to South from Mill Valley in 2006, told his Senior Legion baseball team Tuesday that he was resigning from his coaching duties to take a job as vice principal at Prairie Trail Junior High School next year.

Garrett said the opportunity to have a new professional challenge, work with Principal Stacey Yurkovich and give his family a boost financially was too good to pass up. But the decision wasn’t an easy one.

“It’s difficult because that’s what I’ve done my whole life,” Garrett said. “I’ve been a head baseball coach for 15 years. ... I told the kids last night it was hard to even say the words because they just didn’t sound right coming out of my mouth.”

The announcement was unexpected for the Falcons, a single bit of bad news in what has been a tremendous summer. The Senior Legion team improved to 21-9 by going 5-1 and winning the Midwest Showcase tournament last weekend.

Kegan Knight, a starter in the infield as a junior last spring, said Garrett would be missed.

“Coach Garrett’s a great coach and a fun guy to be around,” Knight said. “Always positive, always trying to get us going. Being there for two years he got pretty close to the team, and it’s definitely a bummer to see him go.”

Garrett’s first South team went 8-14, but it pulled off a rousing upset against Blue Valley in the opening round of the playoffs. This spring the Falcons went 7-14, never quite finding a consistent groove.

Garrett said he saw bigger things on the horizon for South baseball, and that made it even tougher to step down after only two seasons.

“I knew getting Olathe South back to where it was in the 1980s was something that wasn’t going to happen overnight,” Garrett said. “It was going to be a year-by-year deal, and I was hoping to be coaching my kids at Olathe South someday. But things kind of blindside you.”

Garrett said he thought he was leaving a program that was headed in the right direction, noting that South’s sub-varsity teams combined for a 42-10 record last spring in addition to this summer’s success. He said he hoped the administration would look at that and consider some of his assistant coaches as candidates for the now-vacant head coaching position before opening it up to all comers.

The new coach will inherit a promising squad that includes Knight, heavy-hitting third baseman Mike Schneider, reliable catcher Corey Heintz and a pitching staff that could include Keith Picht and Corbin Pierson, among others.

“We have a lot of good talent and a lot of up-and-coming juniors and seniors,” Knight said. “Our whole summer team, we only have three graduated players on it, so everybody’s pretty young.”

Garrett plans to stay involved in the summer and will be watching the spring team’s progress closely, even if he’s no longer in the dugout.

“I truly loved coaching at Olathe South,” Garrett said. “The players and the parents have been nothing but supportive, and it was just an awesome opportunity for me and my family. I’m sad in my heart, but I know the program is going in the right direction and I’m excited about what opportunities lay ahead of me as well.”

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