Sutherland stepping into top spot at U-Hi

Scott Sutherland did not play baseball, but he has been coaching the sport and awaiting his opportunity to head a high school program for some time.

So when 28-year University coach Don Ressa and his longtime assistant announced they would swap hats, making Sutherland the head coach, it came as no surprise.

“The switch with Don had been a work in progress,” said Sutherland. “I knew he was going to retire a year ago and it was quite a feat keeping it quiet for 12 months.”

Ressa concurred. “Suds (Sutherland’s nickname) and I had been talking about this for five or six years,” he said. “The bottom line is he deserves the job.”

The transition, both coaches agree, should be seamless.

“Don pretty much allowed me to run the show for the past five years or so,” Sutherland said. “I coached third base, ran the defense, ran practice and made the lineup each game day. That’s how much confidence he showed in me and I am eternally grateful for the opportunity.”

That said, Sutherland is no coaching neophyte. His baseball background goes back more than two decades before joining the Titans.

He assisted at Ferris in the 1980s, spent three years as head coach at Freeman in the early 1990s and has coached American Legion baseball for more than 20 years.

Among his Legion teams was a state fourth-placer in 1988 that included former major league player Kevin Stocker.

“What will really be strange is going to GSL coaching meetings,” Sutherland said. “I think that I coached over half of them somewhere down the line or coached against them when they were players. I don’t feel like a rookie.”

“Suds” played football and was a golfer at Ferris, graduating in 1979. His nickname is handed down from his late grandfather Jim Sutherland, who coached Washington State football from 1957-63.

“I never played high school baseball, however I really loved the game,” said Sutherland, whose two brothers, Mark and Tyler, were GSL MVPs in the sport.

He got into the sport first as an umpire before working his way into coaching. He’s been a teacher at U-Hi since 1990 and a Titan assistant since 1993. Now his dream is being realized.

“You don’t have to be an all-city or college athlete to make it in coaching,” Sutherland said. “It takes hard work, dedication, timing and in my case, lots of patience.”

U-Hi’s staff expects to remain intact with Ressa continuing to work with pitchers and catchers.

Robert Bartlett is outfield and hitting coach, Josh Nichols will remain with the junior varsity and Tom Hoiland with the freshman.

That doesn’t mean Sutherland won’t put his stamp on the program.

“There will be more changes off the field than on,” he said.

He wants closer ties with feeder middle-schools coaches and young athletes, including an open gym for hitting in the winter. He wants to reinstate the alumni game and continue upgrades on the baseball field.

“And we are going to change our emphasis a bit on the way we conduct batting practice,” he said.