- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,210,807
- Reaction score
- 59
Jul. 11—In his 15th season as the St. Joseph-Ogden baseball coach, Josh Haley helped the Spartans produce a season for the ages: a 40-2 record and a Class 2A state championship. Haley also won his 500th career game this past spring as SJ-O rattled off a 22-game win streak and an 18-game win streak at two different junctures this season. The Spartans won an Illini Prairie Conference title and then went on a postseason run to remember. The run started with a 10-0 victory against Marshall in a regional semifinal game on May 27 and continued with a 10-0 win at Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin to win a regional title on May 30. Then, the Spartans headed to Monticello, where they defeated Tri-Valley 6-3 on June 3 in a sectional semifinal game and outlasted rival Unity 6-4 in nine innings to win a sectional title on June 6. The final week of the season saw the wins continue to pile up, first by shutting out Williamsville 9-0 on June 9 in a super-sectional game in Springfield before opening the state tournament with a 6-1 victory against Ottawa Marquette in a state semifinal game at Illinois Field on June 12. Haley and the Spartans capped the historic season with a 15-1 win in five innings against Harvest-Westminster on June 13 to give SJ-O baseball its first state championship. Sports Editor Matt Daniels caught up with Haley, his wife, Kara, and their four children — 21-year-old Mikyla, 18-year-old Will, 15-year-old Avery and 14-year-old Luke — to discuss the season that was, what spring is like in the Haley household and the hug Josh shared with Will after Will, who was the Spartans' starting catcher, helped SJ-O win a state title:
It was very fun seeing them go all the way.
It was a blast, especially with the guys we had. This is what I pictured from day one of my freshman year.
He knows how to coach them. He's been doing it for so long. He knows how to take control and show them what to do.
Kind of what Avery said, but he cares about all of the players. He cares not only about baseball, but also developing them as a person.
It was awesome, especially watching them coach and play together since Will was younger. And watching Will and his teammates play together all these years, it was just a really good season.
It's been a blur. It feels like a year has passed, even if it's only been a few weeks. I never once doubted or questioned that this is how this run would end, but it's also surreal that it actually did. We've been talking about this and dreaming about this for a long time. For it to finally happen with Josh being able to be there to help them along the way and instill in them some of those core values as people, but also the little things that make winning baseball, was fun.
I had a lot of people ask me on the way in to the game, 'How are you feeling?' I felt nothing. I don't know if it was just surreal that this is where we were at, but there was just this peace about the last week of the season. The feeling of this is where we're supposed to be, and this is what we're supposed to do. I think I cried a little bit every time a run was scored in the state title game just because it was getting closer to reality of what we had come to do.
It has settled in. I thought getting the guys back together for 'The News-Gazette Sports Page,' radio show at Roch's in downtown St. Joseph, that brought some closure because one thing that stood out is, yes, we won a state title, but we all just enjoyed being together. It was sad at the same point in time because this collective group won't be together again. It has sunk in that we accomplished what we wanted to, but it's also a finality, too.
I felt like when we beat Sacred Heart-Griffin, Oswego East and Rockridge in that stretch in late March into early April, we could handle about anything we'd see in the postseason. I think everyone knew that the sectional championship game against Unity was going to be a high-level game. If we could somehow survive that, we'd have a chance to win it. Once that game was over and we won, there was a lot of peace going into the super-sectional game against Williamsville. Those were two moments.
Lots of baseball. That's really all there is. Dad has been coaching since before I was born. Honestly, it's all any of us have ever known. Once it gets a little warm after winter, you start thinking that it's baseball season, and it's exciting.
I think some of it is recognizing what parts you need to control and the other parts that you don't. When spring comes and baseball comes, we know where we need to be and we know what we need to do. We just do it. There's not too many questions. We just have to go with the flow.
We've gone through every phase as a family, and baseball is a part of our lives. It's not our entire life, but it's a big part of it. From them being babies and Kara toting them around, to then they were crawling and then playing catch on the side. Mikyla was our stat girl for four years with the high school program and ran our booth at home games. Then, Avery and Luke come along, and they're just right there with it. They know how important it is because they know how much effort we put forth and how much we care. It's neat that our story is getting told as a family, too, because it's been a lot of our lives and a lot of sacrifice by Kara and the kids.
I just played my own game in a way. He was never dad on the field or coach at home.
There have been many moments where I'll have to ask Will, 'So, what did coach say?' They handled that father-son and coach-player relationship really well. Coach stayed at the field, but it's also funny because Will will come home and I'll ask him questions, and he'll go, 'I don't want to talk about it. I want to talk to dad.' Even after the games are done, he still wants to talk to dad about baseball.
He was there. It was nice with volleyball because my siblings were a lot younger, so they were all there together. It was cool to have everyone there along for the ride.
I feel like sometimes he still has the coach aspect in him. Yes, there's times where I know dad is not going to be there because he is so busy. I'm used to the baseball, but when he is there, it feels good because he finds the time to be there.
She was on varsity this year, so it was a little bit of a challenge. I only got to see a couple games. That was a new role for us. She sacrificed a lot this year because we were running back and forth. She had to play a couple games solo. When I'm watching the kids play, I'm silent a lot of the times. I don't yell at the officials or umpires. I'm just there to watch them. I can decompress and just enjoy the moment. I've always been able to just be dad in that regard. After the game, I'll give my two cents if they ask, but at the same time, we're more worried on the rides home about where we're eating or where we're going.
This was the first time we had experienced high school softball as a family. You could probably count on one hand from the beginning of March until the state championship game in mid-June where we didn't have a ballgame between travel baseball with Luke, Avery's softball and Will's baseball. More often, we had two games most nights.
We've talked about it a couple times here in the last few weeks just that hug we shared on the field after the state championship game. There were two surreal moments I had as a dad at the state tournament. The first was when Will hit that triple against Marquette in the state semifinal game and then his double in the bottom of the first in the state championship game. Will sought me out after the dogpile in the state title game. You may never have that opportunity, and that's why it was so special because we got to have an opportunity as father-son and coach-player that a lot of people only dream about having, and we got to experience it.
I watched from higher up back behind most of the crowd, and I think I broke down. I had been tearing up the entire ballgame, but seeing that moment, I lost pretty much all control.
No, not really. Everything was kind of just in the moment at that point. I just saw him, went up to him and gave him a hug.
YEAR COACH SCHOOL
2026 Josh Haley St. Joseph-Ogden
2025 John Staab Champaign Central
2024 Chris Jones Monticello
2023 Nic DiFilippo Mahomet-Seymour
2022 Josh Haley St. Joseph-Ogden
YEAR COACH SCHOOL
2021 Josh Haley St. Joseph-Ogden
2019 Adam Carver Tuscola
2018 Duff Hoel Tuscola
2017 John Staab Champaign Central
2016 Josh Haley St. Joseph-Ogden
YEAR COACH SCHOOL
2015 Ryan Remole Centennial
2014 John Staab Champaign Central
2013 Gary Hansgen Salt Fork
2012 Duff Hoel Tuscola
Continue reading...
It was very fun seeing them go all the way.
It was a blast, especially with the guys we had. This is what I pictured from day one of my freshman year.
He knows how to coach them. He's been doing it for so long. He knows how to take control and show them what to do.
Kind of what Avery said, but he cares about all of the players. He cares not only about baseball, but also developing them as a person.
It was awesome, especially watching them coach and play together since Will was younger. And watching Will and his teammates play together all these years, it was just a really good season.
It's been a blur. It feels like a year has passed, even if it's only been a few weeks. I never once doubted or questioned that this is how this run would end, but it's also surreal that it actually did. We've been talking about this and dreaming about this for a long time. For it to finally happen with Josh being able to be there to help them along the way and instill in them some of those core values as people, but also the little things that make winning baseball, was fun.
I had a lot of people ask me on the way in to the game, 'How are you feeling?' I felt nothing. I don't know if it was just surreal that this is where we were at, but there was just this peace about the last week of the season. The feeling of this is where we're supposed to be, and this is what we're supposed to do. I think I cried a little bit every time a run was scored in the state title game just because it was getting closer to reality of what we had come to do.
It has settled in. I thought getting the guys back together for 'The News-Gazette Sports Page,' radio show at Roch's in downtown St. Joseph, that brought some closure because one thing that stood out is, yes, we won a state title, but we all just enjoyed being together. It was sad at the same point in time because this collective group won't be together again. It has sunk in that we accomplished what we wanted to, but it's also a finality, too.
I felt like when we beat Sacred Heart-Griffin, Oswego East and Rockridge in that stretch in late March into early April, we could handle about anything we'd see in the postseason. I think everyone knew that the sectional championship game against Unity was going to be a high-level game. If we could somehow survive that, we'd have a chance to win it. Once that game was over and we won, there was a lot of peace going into the super-sectional game against Williamsville. Those were two moments.
Lots of baseball. That's really all there is. Dad has been coaching since before I was born. Honestly, it's all any of us have ever known. Once it gets a little warm after winter, you start thinking that it's baseball season, and it's exciting.
I think some of it is recognizing what parts you need to control and the other parts that you don't. When spring comes and baseball comes, we know where we need to be and we know what we need to do. We just do it. There's not too many questions. We just have to go with the flow.
We've gone through every phase as a family, and baseball is a part of our lives. It's not our entire life, but it's a big part of it. From them being babies and Kara toting them around, to then they were crawling and then playing catch on the side. Mikyla was our stat girl for four years with the high school program and ran our booth at home games. Then, Avery and Luke come along, and they're just right there with it. They know how important it is because they know how much effort we put forth and how much we care. It's neat that our story is getting told as a family, too, because it's been a lot of our lives and a lot of sacrifice by Kara and the kids.
I just played my own game in a way. He was never dad on the field or coach at home.
There have been many moments where I'll have to ask Will, 'So, what did coach say?' They handled that father-son and coach-player relationship really well. Coach stayed at the field, but it's also funny because Will will come home and I'll ask him questions, and he'll go, 'I don't want to talk about it. I want to talk to dad.' Even after the games are done, he still wants to talk to dad about baseball.
He was there. It was nice with volleyball because my siblings were a lot younger, so they were all there together. It was cool to have everyone there along for the ride.
I feel like sometimes he still has the coach aspect in him. Yes, there's times where I know dad is not going to be there because he is so busy. I'm used to the baseball, but when he is there, it feels good because he finds the time to be there.
She was on varsity this year, so it was a little bit of a challenge. I only got to see a couple games. That was a new role for us. She sacrificed a lot this year because we were running back and forth. She had to play a couple games solo. When I'm watching the kids play, I'm silent a lot of the times. I don't yell at the officials or umpires. I'm just there to watch them. I can decompress and just enjoy the moment. I've always been able to just be dad in that regard. After the game, I'll give my two cents if they ask, but at the same time, we're more worried on the rides home about where we're eating or where we're going.
This was the first time we had experienced high school softball as a family. You could probably count on one hand from the beginning of March until the state championship game in mid-June where we didn't have a ballgame between travel baseball with Luke, Avery's softball and Will's baseball. More often, we had two games most nights.
We've talked about it a couple times here in the last few weeks just that hug we shared on the field after the state championship game. There were two surreal moments I had as a dad at the state tournament. The first was when Will hit that triple against Marquette in the state semifinal game and then his double in the bottom of the first in the state championship game. Will sought me out after the dogpile in the state title game. You may never have that opportunity, and that's why it was so special because we got to have an opportunity as father-son and coach-player that a lot of people only dream about having, and we got to experience it.
I watched from higher up back behind most of the crowd, and I think I broke down. I had been tearing up the entire ballgame, but seeing that moment, I lost pretty much all control.
No, not really. Everything was kind of just in the moment at that point. I just saw him, went up to him and gave him a hug.
YEAR COACH SCHOOL
2026 Josh Haley St. Joseph-Ogden
2025 John Staab Champaign Central
2024 Chris Jones Monticello
2023 Nic DiFilippo Mahomet-Seymour
2022 Josh Haley St. Joseph-Ogden
YEAR COACH SCHOOL
2021 Josh Haley St. Joseph-Ogden
2019 Adam Carver Tuscola
2018 Duff Hoel Tuscola
2017 John Staab Champaign Central
2016 Josh Haley St. Joseph-Ogden
YEAR COACH SCHOOL
2015 Ryan Remole Centennial
2014 John Staab Champaign Central
2013 Gary Hansgen Salt Fork
2012 Duff Hoel Tuscola
Continue reading...
