New Coupeville High School varsity baseball coach Will Thayer. (Submitted photo)
Will Thayer turned a negative into a positive.
Growing up, he dreamed of being a professional baseball player, but his playing days were derailed by a high school knee injury.
Instead of moping around, Thayer moved into coaching, starting when he was 16, and continuing to this day.
Now the 2002 Oak Harbor High School grad will be pulling on a new uniform, after being named as the varsity baseball coach at Coupeville High School.
While he has CHS Athletic Director (and former Wolf baseball guru) Willie Smith’s approval, the final stamp will come when the school board approves his hire.
It’ll be Thayer’s second try at leading a Wolf diamond program, as he was originally hired last spring to helm Coupeville’s JV softball squad.
When COVID-19 shut down sports across the state, he never got a chance to coach a game, however.
If current plans hold, baseball will join other spring sports in being the first to return to play during the pandemic.
Northwest 2B/1B League AD’s have set a tentative time frame of February 22 to April 3 for a shortened, six-week season, though that will depend on the region reaching Phase 2 in Governor Jay Inslee’s latest reopening plan.
After replacing Chris Smith, who moved off-Island after the graduation of his youngest child, Thayer is ready once again to rock and roll.
It’s the logical next step for a man who has been around the game for most of his life.
“Growing up I started when I was eight, playing in North Whidbey Little League, and then played my high school baseball in Oregon until a knee injury stopped my playing days,” Thayer said.
“Growing up I wanted to be a professional baseball player,” he added. “Once I realized high school was as far as I was going to go, I knew I wanted to stay around the game.”
That led to an early entry into the coaching fraternity, and it’s a decision he has embraced.
“Once I started coaching, I realized I got the same joy as I did as a player and decided I was going to work as hard as I needed to coach at the high school level,” Thayer said.
“Being from the area, coaching for Coupeville is my way of giving back to an area I spent a lot of time playing and coaching in for so many years.”
Thayer, who is a Recreation Assistant with the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Department at NAS Whidbey, preaches that “small wins create large victories.”
He inherits a program left in a good place by Chris Smith, and will look to expand on what his predecessor accomplished.
“I am a family man, who loves sports and coaching them,” Thayer said. “As a coach, I am invested in creating a winning attitude both on and off the field.
“(Our) upcoming season’s on-field goal is to win our league title.
“Long term is to build a program the community is proud of, and looks forward to coming out and supporting every year, and to get people talking about Coupeville baseball starting with the little leaguers to the people in the community.”
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