San Benito coach Derek Barnes stepped down as head baseball
coach at San Benito High School earlier this week.
Hollister – San Benito coach Derek Barnes stepped down as head baseball coach at San Benito High School earlier this week.
Barnes took over for Neal Andrade, who accepted a head coaching position at Gavilan, at the beginning of last year.
He said he wants to step aside to pursue other interests.
“I have a lot of stuff right now on my plate,” Barnes said. “I was spending a lot of time away from home, and it just wasn’t working for me. With baseball being a year-round sport, I had to make a decision to do the things for my family and myself and let someone else take over who has the energy and effort to put into the program.”
Barnes, who has a young daughter, plans to continue working on his master’s degree, which he started on-line, focusing on school administration. He said he doesn’t have any plans to coach either at the high school or at the youth level, but said he won’t rule it out in the future.
Barnes brought more than 11 years of coaching experience when he was hired, including three years prior as assistant San Benito High coach and a stint as the freshman coach.
“Derek had full support from the athletic department and the high school,” Athletic Director Thatcher said. “When I walked into the job this year, one of the my first calls I made was to Derek to extend our full support to him as baseball coach.”
But some parents still felt he was underqualified as a coach because he didn’t play high school baseball.
“He is a good coach but not at that level,” said parent Craig Klauer. “He could have survived if he surrounded himself with better coaches. I’m pleased coach Barnes made the right decision. It is nice he put the kids and the program first.”
Last year, the Haybalers won five of seven games to end the season and finished with a 16-14 overall record and 8-7 record in the Tri-County Athletic League. San Benito lost to Leigh 2-0 in the Central Coast Section playoffs.
“I wanted to make the decision now early in the year and give them enough time to find someone else,” Barnes said.
The position will be again open to in-house candidates first like it was last year because it is required by district policy, Thatcher said. Anyone interested has until Monday to express interest before applicants are accepted from outside. No one on the inside track has yet to express interest, Thatcher said, but several coaches and teachers not associated with the school have called.
“There was no pressure at all,” Barnes said. “I needed to stop coaching. It was a personal decision I made. Tod tried to talk me out of it a couple times and gave me a couple days to think about it.”
Barnes said he had considered the decision for the last couple weeks before finalizing his intentions on Sept. 10 and sharing them with Thatcher the following day.
Thatcher gave Barnes the weekend to reconsider before the decision was made official on Monday.
“It is unfortunate he chose to resign,” Thatcher said. “Now we just have to find the best coach possible.”
One of Barnes’ final projects as coach is to oversee the laying out of the new field grass, which is expected to be completed in the next couple weeks. Last year, new dirt was added in on the infield.
In addition to Barnes, pitching coach Bryan Humphreys will also be leaving the program. Hitting instructor Eric Diaz and freshman coach Robert Hopkins are planning to stay if possible, Barnes said.
“I wish the program continued success,” Barnes said. “They should be a good team this year considering how well we finised last year and how well we did in the playoff game. There is a good group of freshman kids coming in to draw from. I am happy with how the season ended after starting off slow.”
