(Harlan) Harlan baseball coach Steve Daeges announced his retirement this week.
He admits he’s been mulling the decision for at least the last couple of years. “Really at some point you reach an age and a time where other things become maybe a little more important. I was thinking about having a summer off which I haven’t had for almost 30 years. That played a big role in it.”
Specifically, Daeges has a couple of grandchildren getting involved in activities that he doesn’t want to miss out on and plans to do some travelling. With that said, there will be some elements of coaching that are tough to say good bye to. “Guys like Mike Oeffner who writes the sports here in Harlan and the administration, the parents, the kids. I think the thing I’ll miss the most is just being on a baseball field. It’s something I really enjoy and just being involved in the game of baseball. That’s the thing I’ll miss the most.”
Daeges led the Cyclones to 16 state tournament appearances. They won titles in 1996, 2003, and 2016. He won 718 games. “I think the thing I’m most proud of is our consistency. I think we did a great job, and it’s not just me it’s a lot of people. You don’t put out the quality of teams we put out there for years and years without good players. It starts there and baseball is a sport that takes parental involvement when they are young. I think our parents of our athletes are very easy to work with. Mitch Osborn, working all those years with him when he was AD usually gave us everything we wanted and had great support. You can go on and on and you can’t thank all the people, but I think what I’m most proud of is our consistency. We were pretty good year in year out.”
Daeges informed the team of his decision on Tuesday and went public with the news later in the week. He says he’ll still be around, but more so as a fan than in any type of official capacity.
