Coaches leave East County schools

MANATEE COUNTY — It’s been an offseason of change for Braden River, Lakewood Ranch and The Out-of-Door Academy — all three schools have seen coaches resign over the past six months.

In January, Braden River volleyball coach Steven Haugh resigned and accepted a position at Riverview. Former Bayshore assistant coach Matt McElhiney was announced as the Lady Pirates new coach in March.

This spring, ODA baseball coach Mike Verrill, Lakewood Ranch girls golf coach Wendi Golden and boys basketball coach Chris Kawcak all resigned from their posts.

BRADEN RIVER
Matt McElhiney grew up playing beach volleyball, and ever since he started coaching in 2001, McElhiney has had his sights set on a head coaching position.

McElhiney was interested in coaching at Braden River a couple years ago, before former coach Steven Haugh was hired in 2009, but schoolwork and other obligations prevented him from applying.

So when Haugh, who led the Lady Pirates into the regional finals each of the past two seasons, announced his resignation back in January, McElhiney jumped at the opportunity.

“I knew a lot of the players out there and parents because they’ve played club volleyball for me,” said McElhiney, a Manatee Area Volleyball coach. I like the parents and players. There’s a good group of people there both personality wise and talent wise, so the second time the (position) became available I wanted to take a shot at it.”

During his two seasons at Braden River, Haugh guided the Lady Pirates to back-to-back district titles and a 50-11 record. But in January, Haugh, who also runs the Sarasota Volleyball Academy, accepted a head coaching position at Riverview to be closer to home.

A former Bayshore assistant coach, McElhiney assumed his new post at the end of March. Since then, the Sarasota resident has spent the past three months getting to know some of the players through open gyms.
McElhiney also plans to take 10 of his players to AAU nationals this Sunday in Orlando.

“We’re doing this in place of a team camp,” McElhiney said. “They can get used to me coaching at a high level tournament, and it’s a good opportunity for them.”

In the coming year, McElhiney is looking forward to rebuilding the program and hopefully seeing the Lady Pirates succeed in their new district.

“I expect to have a team that works hard day in and day out,” McElhiney said. “I’m not worried about my win and loss record as much as trying to win districts each year that we play and making a good run into the regional tournament.

McElhiney also named former Palmetto High and Manatee Community College standout Amelia Levy as the Lady Pirates JV coach.

LAKEWOOD RANCH
After two seasons at the helm, Lakewood Ranch girls golf coach Wendi Golden has stepped down.

Golden announced her resignation two weeks ago after deciding to spend more time focusing on her girls, Jordan and Taylor, and her own golf game.

During her time at Lakewood, Golden helped guide the Lady Mustangs to a perfect regular season and a district runner-up finish in her first year.

“The thing I will miss the most is the relationships formed with the players — what an awesome bunch of young ladies,” Golden said. “I will definitely miss the shared laughs and each one of them. I enjoyed the opportunity to invest in each player’s life and guide her in life, as well as in golf.”

Golden said she may return to coaching one day when her children are older but has no plans to do so in the immediate future. Lakewood has yet to name a replacement.

Lakewood also will spend the offseason searching for a new boys basketball coach after Chris Kawcak, who will be moving to a suburb of Memphis, Tenn., announced his resignation last week.

Kawcak took over the position three years ago; and after two losing seasons, he guided the Mustangs to a 20-9 record and a district runner-up finish this past winter.

ODA
When Mike Verrill took over the ODA baseball program in 2004, the team had won a total of five games over a five-year span.

In his first year at the helm, Verrill took a team with a 1-19 record and guided it to a 12-9 record and a district runner-up finish. Since then, Verrill has watched his players win 102 games, including district titles in 2009 and 2011, advance to the regional tournament three times and finish as the regional runner-up in 2009.

But two weeks ago, Verrill announced his resignation after an incident earlier this spring resulted in his suspension prior to the district tournament. Verrill, who was suspended for using foul language toward a player after two of his assistant coaches turned him in, denied the accusation.

Assistant coach Jim Friss, who coached with Verrill for five years, also has resigned.

“My decision to resign from ODA was due to what I feel was a lack of total commitment and loyalty to me by some people who were very close to me in the baseball program,” Verrill said. “I felt the best approach was to leave ODA and continue to coach in a better environment.

“I want to thank coach Jim Friss for his five years of hard work and commitment to me and our players. He was and still is a great friend and influence in my life. I will miss our daily talks and interaction on the baseball field.”

Verrill now will spend the summer coaching baseball in Maine before returning to Sarasota to look into several different coaching opportunities.

“I had eight great rewarding years at ODA and have always been grateful for having the opportunity to coach there,” Verrill said. “After 32 years of coaching high school baseball, with 22 of them as a head coach, I have not lost the fire to coach. After 230 plus wins, district championships, regional championships and state titles in either Florida or Maine I am still hungry for the next one and more then that just teaching young players how to play the game the right way.”

ODA athletic director Noel Beaulieu said he has a candidate in mind to replace Verrill, but it hasn’t been finalized.

Contact Jen Blanco at [email protected].