➜ Why he’s Coach of the Year: Haley’s 11th season in charge of the Spartans resulted in the program recording its most-ever victories with 35. That included a stretch of 27 consecutive triumphs between April 7 and May 25, as well as SJ-O’s ninth Class 2A regional championship in Haley’s tenure. The Spartans advanced to the Sweet 16 before coming up short against rival Monticello in a sectional final, but they still captured a share of the Illini Prairie Conference regular-season title and boasted a pair of News-Gazette All-Area first-team selections in Hayden Brazelton and Tyler Altenbaumer.
➜ What got him into coaching is… when I finished playing at Millikin, I had the opportunity to the coach in the Central Illinois Collegiate League and got in with the Decatur Blues. Coached three years in the league — two with Decatur, one with Danville — and I really thought I was heading down the collegiate path. And then an opportunity opened up at Hoopeston, so I went there in the spring of ’03 to assist. Then I took on my first head job in ’05 as the varsity coach (at Hoopeston Area), and that’s when (current St. Joseph-Ogden assistant coach Mitch Pruemer) came, and we’ve been doing it ever since. I guess the love of baseball and the love of connecting with kids and helping them reach their goals.
➜ His most difficult thing to learn about coaching is … my fear of failure. It’s what drove me as a player. I probably, early on, hated to lose more than I enjoyed winning, and there’s a lot of losses that stuck with me probably too long, especially when we got to the postseason. So I guess I appreciate it more now, taking each year and making it its own entity with the kids, especially the seniors. Just learning to deal with the ups and downs and successes and failures.
➜ The biggest piece of advice he’d offer to a new baseball coach is … communicate. Communicate with your players. Communicate with your program. Be consistent. Set the bar high. Set expectations because the kids will decide what their ceiling is. Don’t ever limit them because if you set the bar high and set expectations high the kids can reach them.
➜ His favorite moment from this season was … every day. This group was so professional, and they were so fun to watch. They’re so easy to root for because they played the game the right way. They played the game hard. I never had to coach effort. They gave their best effort every time, and to go 35-3, even our three losses didn’t have anything to do with (anything) other than baseball. To go through a season for three months is a challenge. So I just appreciated being with them every day and just watching them because they played the game like pros.
➜ His most challenging moment from this season was … the roster management. We played 63 games as a program — we went 35-3 (in varsity), 22-3 in JV — and we had 29 guys. We were constantly managing the roster, pitching rotations and trying to be successful and set everybody up for success. We had like a taxi squad at times, running them up between varsity and JV. Just constantly communicating with Coach Pruemer, Coach (Steve) Hoosen and Coach (Kody) Haas — Coach Haas did an excellent job at the JV level, just keeping the expectations high. I’d say just constantly managing each day because it changed whether we were getting to the bullpen or a kid was banged up. That was a challenge. And then the weather was as bad of a spring as we’ve had. It was windy — it was more windy than it had ever been. It was cold. It was rainy. It went miserably that way, and then it went miserably hot for a while. So the weather was a challenge.
➜ The athletes on this season’s team he had to coach the least are … those of the senior class. We’ve coached some of these guys for six years. I’ve never had a group that had my personality as much as this group, so that’s easy. It’s almost like we were always on the same wavelength all the time. They knew the expectation. They knew what irritated me. They knew how to lead. They knew how to run the clubhouse. They knew what we were trying to accomplish. That group of seniors set the standard, and then everybody followed in.
➜ The athlete on this season’s team who feels he is the biggest class clown is … Austin Cotter. Cot probably set a record for fines in our kangaroo court. His lighthearted approach in the dugout was exactly what this team needed. He kept everyone loose and fun. Great kid that really knew his role in the clubhouse.
➜ The athlete on this season’s team who feels is most outgoing is … Griffin Roesch. He’s always kind of been the pied piper of that class, talking, communicating. Him, and Adam Price came in — this year, first time in the program — really outgoing. Those two guys were vocal when they had to be.
➜ The athlete on this season’s team who he feels is most reserved but will speak up when necessary is … Tyler Altenbaumer. He didn’t talk a lot, but when he came in in the dugout, especially when he was pitching, guys listened. Andrew Beyers was another one who was along those same lines. They led a lot by example. They were soft spoken, but when they would say something it meant something.
➜ The athlete on this season’s team he’d want to serve as acting coach if necessary is … Coby Miller, 100 percent. If he wants to be, he’s going to be a great coach someday. We could have a conversation without using words with him behind the plate. He’s so aware. He was very much an extension of the coaching staff this season. He’s going on to be Illinois’ bullpen catcher in college. It’s a cool opportunity for him to maybe continue down the coaching path because he could be a good one.
Colin Likas is the preps coordinator at The News-Gazette. He can be reached at [email protected], or on Twitter at @clikasNG.
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