Ridgewood rebuilds its coaching staff with young former athletes who will bring passion and energy.
By GREG AUMAN
Published July 31, 2003
As her first act as Ridgewood's new girls cross country coach, Stacey Jones held an informal meeting Monday for students interested in running for the Rams this fall. The turnout of about 20 runners, impressive for an impromptu gathering before school starts, wasn't the only thing that surprised her.
"The first time they called me coach, I kind of looked over my shoulder, not realizing they were talking to me," said Jones, 26, a 1995 Ridgewood graduate who fondly remembers her days on the Rams cross country team.
Jones and former Gulf baseball player J.D. Baker joined the cross country staff last week, continuing a youthful makeover this summer that has brought in four new coaches - including two Ridgewood alumni - all 26 or younger.
"It's good to see them coming back in that it brings a sense of pride," first-year principal Randy Koenigsfeld said Wednesday. "They've felt what it's like to be a Ridgewood Ram. It brings so much enthusiasm to a great group of coaches."
Jones and Baker, 25, take over for longtime coach Glenn Cable, who led the boys and girls teams to a combined 21 Sunshine Athletic Conference championships and two state titles. Baker said he knows Cable through the YMCA and said he will be talking to him before the season for insights into the best training and techniques for his boys team.
"He's left me big shoes to fill for sure," said Baker, a personal trainer who got a degree in education from the South Florida this summer and will work in the dropout prevention program at Ridgewood. "I'm very excited. Cross country is the type of sport where you have to have that desire and drive. I admire anybody who runs cross country."
Jones and Baker, despite their youth, are the oldest coaches added at Ridgewood this summer. Last week, Beth Ann Erickson, 24, was hired as swimming coach, and last month 23-year-old Jenn Molby, a three-sport star at Ridgewood, was named volleyball coach.
"I'm feeling much better about our coaching staff from where I started," Koenigsfeld said. "When I got here in June, everything was open."
Ridgewood entered the summer with six openings, but only two remain: it must replace Joe Breinig, the boys track coach who moved out of state, and Greg Bollinger, who stepped down as softball coach but remains the girls basketball coach.
Cross country coaches in Pasco County earned supplements of $1,506 during the 2002-03 school year.
