Best Coaches in Tidewater

I don't know all the coaches in Tidewater but of those I know I would place Coach Lee at the top of any list.

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"Baseball, it is said, is only a game. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole."

"JustMom"

VA
I think every coach deserves the award for best coach.The time and effort these guys put in for our kids are greatly appreciated. Just to name a few and not necessary in any order are.

Coach Lee - Great Bridge 02/03 State Champs

Beach District
Coach Wilson - First Colonial 26th season @ FC
Coach Zell - Salem
Coach S't Clair - Kellam
Coach Hunt - Princess Anne
Coach Morrison - Bayside
Coach Shedden - Ocean Lakes
Coach Conroy - Cox
Coach Showe - Kempsville

fc v dad

Sure every coach deserves the award.
But one of the best coaches, who does the most with the least amount of talent is Coach West at Indian River. They might not be State Champs, but Coach West gets the most out of all his players.

Although only a JV coach, Scott Fowler, formerly of Princess Anne, has contributed a lot of time and energy into the program at Norfolk Academy. He often devotes his spare time to field maintenance and spending extra time instructing his players. He has a great knowledge of the game and deserves to have an oppurtunity to be a varsity coach in the near future.

I agree with EK6. I was around coach Fowler for 3 years at PA and he is an outstanding coach. Not only with x's and o'x but with academics, one on one to players and his high ethical standards.

FieldBuilder

Coach Pete Zell at Salem is a quality coach...he seems to have a curse vs Kellam (since he played there)...Salem usually struggles with Kellam...but the guy is really sharp...holds winter camps..and other assorted camps...works long hours for the improvement of the Sundevils team...

gmu-ece,
i too agree that pete zell has matured nicely into one of the finer baseball people in tidewater. pete also has a good supporting staff that he works well with.
although the "beach" district is blessed with 6 or 7+- quality coaches, i don't see towny townsend's name yet on this list ? towny has done more for the game of baseball in tidewater in the last 25-26+- years than anyone. from coaching the college and high school level, and more importantly the youth. (he is the pioneer of "aau" baseball) boo williams gets a ton of credit for his enormous efforts in aau basketball, and it is well deserved. towny's labor of love for the game of baseball is reflected in the tidewater area becoming the "hot bed" that now exists.

My short list in no particular order:

Towny Townsend - great motivator
Vince Zebro - knows baseball as well as anyone
Wiley Lee - relates to his players well
Pete Zell - a hard worker and knowledgable

Were does Vince Zebro coach?

Driller
You can kick me in the !?#! for not placing Towny on my list.

Towny Townsend - Greenbrier Christian

All the coaches listed do a great job as noted. I'll ad my observations:

Coach Townsend - always got the most out of his teams at Lake Taylor. They played w/ a lot of heart, although at times they may have not been most talented of teams they played the game hard. That tradition of preparation & hustle seems to continue at Greenbrier Christian. Congrats to Sean on his hiring to the Great Bridge JV job.

Coach West - like someone said before, he definitely gets the most out of his players of anyone on the Southside.

Coach Lee - great motivator, in a solid program. His results speak for themselves. Great Bridge sets the mark for others in the S/E district to follow.

Coach Zell - another motivator, who is doing a great job at developing his program.

Coach Spedden - one of the best at the beach in getting the most out of his talent. Several regional appearances over the last few years by doing the little things right.

Coaches Jones (Kellam), Conroy (Cox) & Hunt (PA) are fairly new guys in good programs. Each is a motivator & bring a lot of knowledge to their program along w/ a work ethic.

Coach Wilson - brings a wealth of knowledge along w/ a love for working w/ & teaching players about the game. Another coach who's program sets the mark for others to follow.

Not to slight any others, these are just the gentlemen that I'm familiar with. We are bless to have these coaches in our area & our kids learning from them.

What about Coach Hardison...the JV coach at Hickory?

Theres not a person ive ever met that id be happier playing for than Towny Townsend...unfortunately i cant

Towny Townsend is the best coach in tidewater period! Coach Wilson is next. lee at GB doesn't make the top 5, he has been blessed with a lot of talented players. Towny would have been undefeated if he had the team lee had at GB last year! lee chased a lot of good players out of GB over the past five years. I guess he has recruited a couple good players in the last two years.

I think all the coacges that were named are very good coaches. But to say Towny didn't have some very talented players, would be an understatement. I know that 6 of his players are how playing college ball.Most of them will be starting for their teams as freshmen. As for coach LEE, I think he is a very good coach. He teaches his players how to play the game.You can have all the talent in the world, but if you can't get them to play as a team you won't go very far.

Please note the original post: “Who are some of the best coaches down in the tidewater area nowadays?” I would like to point out that although Matt Sinnen does not hold the position of head baseball Coach at a local High School, he should also be included in this list of outstanding baseball Coaches. One need only look at some of the players Matt has nurtured in the Driller program, some now playing professionally. Does anyone not recognize the Tidewater Drillers? Matt has been involved with this program for many years now, and this program, in large part due to his involvement, has captured national respect and recognition.

If you are including AAU coaches you might want to include Gary Wright. I believe it was him and Matt that originated the Drillers and his players are now some of the top players in the area.

Just Mom,
You are certainly right about coach Lee. He is a class act!

Gotta add this:
Seems folks have forgotten a little incident last season involvng Coach Lee and one of his players during a game. Seems it was kept sort of quiet, but the young man transferred to Greenbriar this year. My info said he suffered a ruptured ear drum from the yelling directly into his ear. Let's not misunderstand my post, I know all coaches get a bit animated at times. Coach Lee has been a quality teacher of the game for some time and has fallen victim to his share of bad press.
My inputs for best coaches are Jimmy Hunt, St. Clair Jones, and Pete Zell. These guys teach the game and, in my opinion, prepare the players for the next level. A few of the others mentioned have passed their prime and have been lucky enough to have others fill in for them or get the right transfers.
Should be interesting to see how this season plays out for some of the coaches that supposedly have lost their assistants from previous years...
Just my thoughts

Beach Dad,

The incident you write about never happened. The player you talk about could not take being demoted from top of the rotation due to poor performance. He quit the team in mid season and did not have the courtesy to even inform the coach of his decision. The coach had to call and ask why he hadn't been at practice.

Yes Coach Lee can be loud and animated. In this case the player couldn't take well deserved criticism about performance related issues.

I'm gonna limit my nominations to 4 high school coaches...no AAU.

I'd like to cast my first ballot for Towny. No one can rival his contribution to baseball in Tidewater. AAU, Diamond Builders, Tidewater All Pro Sports Camps, Lake Taylor, Strike Zone and Greenbrier Christian all come immediatley to mind. Towny stresses commitment and integrity, then teaches baseball at a level many local coaches don't understand themselves. That comment is not intended to show disrespect to other local coaches.

Second I'd like to vote for Norbie Wilson. You can't argue with the accomplishments First Colonial has had over the years.

Third, Wiley Lee, the man has made an incredible commitment to his players. Despite the talk of last year, Wiley has handled some pretty difficult situations with confidentiality and class. Great knowledge of the game.

Forth, Pete Zell. I know a number of his players personally. They would walk thru fire for the guy. No one gives more to his kids than Pete. He makes many of his kids reach their potential thru plain hard work.

cpkebaseballdad,
I have to agree w/ you on these choices. My sons have had an opportunity to be coached by each of the gentlemen. All four teach the game w/ the passion & intensity it was meant to have. Each coach has a competitive nature & show it in the way they go about teaching the game. That may be too tough for some to take, but I personally like each one's style & I know both of my boys did.

I played baseball a number of years ago in SE district and played d1 college ball. I went to a game last year where great bridge was playing, this was the first time i saw wiley lee coach, and I left the game asking myself one question...Why is he still a high school coach?..hes a better coach than most college coaches ive seen..

I'm going to have to disagree with putting Wiley Lee at the top of this list. It would seem to me that to be considered one of the best, you'd have to meet the first priority of a high school coach, which in my personal opinion is ensuring the 6 to 8 seniors on your roster graduate. Part of coaching is preparing these young men for life, whether or not baseball is in their future plans. No matter how you look at it, Wiley Lee failed ******xx last year. It's not like Wiley or GBHS didn't know he was an at risk student.

4luofthegame,
I have to insist that Coach Lee did a great job with ********* If not for Coach Lee's constant attention ****** would not have gotten as far as he did. Unfortunately even with the considerable time and effort put forth by Coach Lee, ****** still failed to take advantage of the opportunities given him.

Coach Lee has consistently shown interest in his players both on and off the field including after graduation.

Coach Lee is tops in my opinon.

******xx was a tough situation. Deep down a really nice kid, a ballplayer with huge potential, who was making some pretty bad decisions at that time in his life. Wiley chose to maintain a relationship with ******x and thereby was able to be a positive influence in his life. In addition, he must have complied with VHSL rules or ******x wouldn't have been able to play and GBHS wouldn't have their state championship. Last I knew, the boy graduated in summer school and has plans to play ball in school this spring. Looks like Wiley made a pretty good decision after all. Lets face it, in the end, ******x did get his HS diploma and now has the opportunity to go to college and play ball at the next level. Had Wiley kicked ****** off the team, I feel certain ****** would have dropped out and never gotten his HS diploma. Seems to me that Wiley showed great patience and in fact did not fail ***xx. Now, maybe...just maybe...one day when ****** is an adult, he will show the same patience and give a struggling kid a break. A kid who needs a break. Just like ******x did.

Seems to me that that qualifies Coach Lee as not only a pretty good coach, but a pretty good man.

As the parent of what some would have called an at-risk student, I can tell you that for the coach, it's a sticky situation. And a public discussion, with names, is uncomfortable.

So I'm going to say this in general terms. Bounce an otherwise academically eligible player because he might be underperforming is sometimes the worst thing you can do. Sometimes, it is the right thing.

What's best for the kid? If you don't know the whole situation, you don't know. Period.

You want to rate coaches, fine.

But calling out a kid and a coach in the direction this threat is moving is just bad form.

Wiley Lee is #1 in my book!!!!!!!!!!
Gus Bell
Blue Grey Classic

Please note that I have removed the players name who was being discussed from this thread..

There is no need to rehash old history when this player has turned everything around and is living his dream.

Unless you are the parent of the player or the player themselves, please think about if this discussion would embarass you or your player before you list someone elses name.

Thanks

_______________
"Baseball, it is said, is only a game. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole."

"JustMom"

Justmom: Well said. Let me tell the real story since I was a part of it and saw the incident that started this conversation. It didn't happen. Stop spreading the rumor.

Coach Lee is guilty: Of spending way too much time with his players, caring way too much for them, to include the player in question. He does not have full control of one of the most important attributes that college and pro scouts look for--makeup. Coach Lee is guilty of not spending enough time with his own kids (a great little ball player) because he spends too much time with the baseball program he has developed at GHBS. Let's list his successes:
Starting CF at UVA, starting CF at W&M and a top notch pitcher, a great infielder and pitcher at VMI, a great OF at Avery, etc. So he is guilty--of being a great coach. The greatest generals in our history lost a few battles.

As an out of stater that has either coached against, or lucky enough to have my son play for I just want to recognize Towny Townsend, Norbie Wilson, and Wiley Lee.

All three came across as top knotch coaches, as well, quality men. The beach area has to be proud of the coaches, and especially the talent that is recognized from your area.

Know you are lucky play for or against some of the better HS coaches around.

Al McCormick

Towny Townsend is the best coach in tidewater.
If any coach should be coaching at the next level it is him. As for coach lee and i use that term loosely, my feelings are that he will do what ever it takes to win at any cost. It's all about him. Mitch all those players you refered to had talent before lee got a hold of them. What about all the players that left GB over the last five years, i could name at least 5 or 6, all of them turned out to be pretty good ball players. My son played at GB and all he got was alot of discouragement and a state championship. My question is was the state championship worth it? Maybe to coach lee. I saw a lot of people change over 5 years and it seems to me the only players to get any help or special attention are the one who's parents kissed up to the coach or did things for the "program" . I'm not that type to kiss up so you can guess how much help my son got. Zero ! I had D1 college coaches from out of state call me to ask why my sons coach could not tell them when my son would be playing. What kind of help is that? There is good news. My son is now playing baseball at a D1 school and his team will be playing in south carolina next weekend. He has also been invited to play on 2 college level baseball teams this summer. You Can't hold back Will, Determination and Talent Forever!
I could not hold back any longer. People need to hear both sides of the story.
Just my observations.

1bbfan: Good luck to RF. I hope he does well. I think he has good stuff. Hope he has a good college career. Mitch

Mitch,

You have a pm.

Mitch: Thanks RF has been doing well and his coach has been very happy with his performance
this spring. I see that mike has been doing very well at UVA. Congradulations and good luck to him! 1bbfan

1bbfan

Congrats to RF. I didn't know where he had gone to college. I'm not suprised he ended up back in your home state. I'll keep up with him on the web site. Best to you and your family. I guess you guys are back in Ohio now. It was good watching the boys grow up playing for the Cardinals. Coach Z did a good job with our kids.

1bbfan, hear, hear! what school is RF attending, i'd like to watch his progress.

RF is at University of Akron.

I just want to say that Coach St. Clair Jones has my vote, simply because he came into a situation at Kellam High School, a team near the bottom of the Beach District, and turned them into a constant contender not only for the beach, but for the region and state title. He also has prepared his players for the next level..just to name a few:

Steve Harris '02 ODU
Austin Devnew '02 Piedmont
John Leonard '02 VCU
Matt Hudgins '02 VMI
Ryan Zimmerman '02 UVA
Brooks Sinnen '03 ODU
Josiah Novak '03 Randolph-Macon
DJ Tharrington '03 Mississippi College
Leon Schabacker '03 Christopher Newport

GO CUBS