(Walnut) A Walnut graduate joins the Why I Coach podcast this week. Kevin Suhr has gone on to great success on the coaching staff at Blue Valley High School. He’s been involved in five state baseball championships in Class 6A in Kansas.
Kevin Suhr is a 1996 Walnut grad who played college baseball at Briar Cliff. While in college he got his first taste of coaching when he started working at an at-risk after school program. “At that point I started helping coach basketball and some football and really just fell in love with making connections with kids and the whole process of sharing my enjoyment for sports. That was probably where it started. After graduation I wasn’t in teaching. I was in the business world and I really missed being able to coach and connect with kids.”
He got an opportunity both at Mason City High School and NIACC as an assistant baseball coach. He spent a few years in Mason City before moving on. He had planned on staying in Iowa, but ended up landing in Olathe, KS area where an opportunity arose as an assistant at Blue Valley High School. “As far as the state of Kansas goes it’s a perennial powerhouse. We’ve had a few guys that have gotten drafted. Ryne Stanek is with the Marlins right now. I’d like to say it was because of the coaching, but at the end of the day when you have great kids it makes your job easier. I’ve been very fortunate.”
Seven of Blue Valley’s nine starters are Division I baseball recruits. They’ve been to state ten of the last twelve years. Suhr grew up in a baseball loving town of Walnut. Youth coach Larry Jacobsen had a big impression on him as did high school coaches Denny Book and Bob Gross. “Some of their sayings come out constantly when I’m talking to my kids. Denny Book would always say just a simple phrase ‘Just believe.’ That’s something that I’ve heard myself tell my own players. Bob Gross I’ll always remember what he told us which was ‘Never get beat with your second best pitch.'”
The fundamentals are vitally important, but above all else is connecting with kids. “At the end of the day it’s not just about baseball or basketball or football or whatever sport. We are teaching these guys to be better men and great husbands someday. If that’s the focus then all the stuff in between is just a byproduct and success on the field is a byproduct. At any level you try to build your program around connecting with the kids. Because that’s why we are out there is connecting with kids. I’ve often said before I’m just happy to be a part of their history and their story. That to me is the big thing.”
Previous Coaches
Eric Maassen, (AHST grad) Sheldon
Jerome Hoegh, Atlantic grad (West Sioux)
Gaylord Schelling, Atlantic and Tri-Center
Trevor Gipple, (Griswold grad) SW Valley
Eric Stein (Harlan grad) Iowa Central
Darrell Burmeister, Nodaway Valley
Chad Harder, (Walnut Grad) Tri-Center
