State of the Game, Part V: Coaching Changes

This is the fifth and final part of our week-long series “The State of the Game.”

You pretty much needed a scorecard to keep up with all of the coaching changes that happened over the summer in Broward County.

The coaching moves came for a variety of reasons and included some high-profile positions. A couple of veteran coaches hung up their hats and decided to call it a career. Western’s Sonny Hansley and Pompano Beach’s George Petik retired at the end of the season.

Hansley coached for more than 40 years and compiled a 570-377 record as a head coach at the college and high school level in Broward County over 28 of those years. He had been the head coach at Nova Southestern University, Plantation High School and Western High School. He was inducted into the Nova Southeastern Hall of Fame in 2007.

“Making the decision really wasn’t that difficult,” Hansley told BrowardHighSchoolBaseball.com. “Following through with it has been a little bit emotional, especially with the kids. And like I told my wife, there’s an empty feeling, but it’s not an empty feeling I want to change what I decided to do. I’ll fill the void with something. I just need to figure out what that is going to be. You know that part was hard. I’ve been doing this for a long, long time, and it becomes a part of you.”

Petik announced his retirement from coaching after the 2011 season, finishing his career with a 405-200-2 record. He won a state championship with Cardinal Gibbons in 1987. He also coached at Nova and finished his career at Pompano Beach.

Petik retired so he could spend more time with his family. “I want to see my kids,” he told BrowardHighSchoolBaseball.com after the season. “I’ve done for other people’s children all these years, now I’ve gotta be a little bit selfish and do a little bit for my kids.”

Paul Barnes has replaced Hansley at Western, and Ryan Combs is the new coach at Pompano.

Probably the most talked-about coaching change this summer involved Douglas. Todd Fitz-Gerald left American Heritage, where he had coached the past decade, to take over at Douglas after Dean Florio’s contract was not renewed. Tension between Florio and the school reached a breaking point after an on-field incident April 8 with umpire Ken Maurer in a game against district rival Coral Springs led to a six-week suspension from the Florida High School Athletic Association. Fitz-Gerald was named head coach at Douglas on June 14.

“We want to make a good mark there and start winning championships,” Fitz-Gerald told BrowardHighSchoolBaseball.com after he was named coach at Douglas. “Now it’s just about putting together a good staff and a good team, and then making sure the kids understand how we go about it and learn our system.”

Former Major League Baseball player Bruce Aven has replaced Fitz-Gerald at Heritage.

Just those three coaching changes would be enough water-cooler talk, but the summer remained busy as several other coaching moves happened. Among them were veteran coach Mike Moss leaving West Broward to return to Chaminade-Madonna and Jerry Albert leaving Coral Springs Charter to coach at Miami-Dade powerhouse Belen Jesuit.

Moss got the chance to go back to Chaminade after coach and athletic director Paul Herfurth left in July to be the athletic director at University School, where Rich Hofman is baseball coach.

It’s the second stint at Chaminade for Moss, who has been replaced at West Broward by Sergio Ambros. After spending nine seasons building Taravella into a county power, Moss went to Chaminade in 2004 and spent five seasons there, similarly creating a strong program before taking on a new challenge at West Broward in 2009.

Another big talker this summer was Albert leaving Charter in July to go to Belen. Albert started the program from scratch 12 years ago and made it one of the best in the county. His team went to the regional semifinals four of the past seven years.

“What this affords me to do for my entire family is what drew me to [Belen],” Albert said. “My boys can now attend one of the top Catholic institutions in the country, and my girls will now be set as well. Leaving Coral Springs Charter was incredibly difficult. I started the program and built it to what it is today. I have great relationships there, and the principal and administration have been fantastic with me even to the very end. The support I have received there is something I will never forget.”

Mike Higgins was named coach and athletic director at Coral Springs Charter in August.

This summer also saw Daniel Baugh resigning from McArthur, Joel Bradley leaving Northeast and Ryan Stuart being promoted to head coach at Taravella, where he had been an assistant for six years.

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