Butler named Fairfield baseball coach
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
LEESBURG — Ritchie Butler has been named the new Fairfield Lions varsity baseball coach.
Butler, who is replacing former FHS coach Jeff Miller (who coached the last 19 seasons), is no stranger to coaching baseball. He has been the head coach for the American Legion Hillsboro Post 129 baseball team for the past two summers and a part of the staff for the past six. He was also a reserve baseball coach for Hillsboro in the past.
The new FHS varsity baseball coach has also been a varsity basketball coach for the Lions (three years), a Hillsboro JV coach (three years), a varsity basketball assistant for Hillsboro (four years) and a junior high basketball coach for Hillsboro (three years).
The new era of Fairfield baseball will be a different look for the team as a whole, as the Lions graduated many starters from last season's team that won a sectional title.
"Over the years, Fairfield has had success in baseball," Butler said. "They've had a regional appearance and played in the district tournament, while also having high finishes in the league. Fairfield has always been competitive."
Butler is looking forward to the challenge of coaching a young team in his first season as the FHS head coach.
"We lost a lot to graduation, but we have a good, young group of players returning. To start with a young group … a group that has talent, that is always a bonus," Butler said.
Being a mathematics teacher at Fairfield High School, Butler is already familiar with his players. While also coaching the Legion team, Butler has covered high school sports for newspapers in the area.
"I'm familiar with the kids as a teacher, so it is good to be familiar with them. I know the kids from the classroom, so in terms of transition to the baseball field, it will be an easy transition," he said. "I'm looking forward to coaching them, but there is a difference in coaching Legion baseball and high school baseball."
Coaching the Legion team, Butler had players from five different counties, but there are more differences than that with both types of baseball, including just how Butler will coach the game.
"With the Legion program, we have good players from the area, who already have fundamental skills. Our goal with Legion is to get players to come together as a team," Butler said. "At the high school level, we work on the basic fundamentals at the start, plus we have more time to get a team ready for the season.
"We'll have four weeks to work before the high school season. Like I said, we'll work on fundamentals at the beginning, then we'll work our way to game situations and those types of things."
Butler continued to talk about the FHS tradition, wanting to continue the winning ways of the Lions program.
"We will work to keep the winning tradition, and we want a competitive team day-in, day-out," Butler said. "Though I haven't coached at the high school level for a few years, I haven't lost touch with it. Coaching the Legion team, and covering games for newspapers, has allowed me to have a good relationship with high school sports. It's not like I have completely been away."[[In-content Ad]]
Butler, who is replacing former FHS coach Jeff Miller (who coached the last 19 seasons), is no stranger to coaching baseball. He has been the head coach for the American Legion Hillsboro Post 129 baseball team for the past two summers and a part of the staff for the past six. He was also a reserve baseball coach for Hillsboro in the past.
The new FHS varsity baseball coach has also been a varsity basketball coach for the Lions (three years), a Hillsboro JV coach (three years), a varsity basketball assistant for Hillsboro (four years) and a junior high basketball coach for Hillsboro (three years).
The new era of Fairfield baseball will be a different look for the team as a whole, as the Lions graduated many starters from last season's team that won a sectional title.
"Over the years, Fairfield has had success in baseball," Butler said. "They've had a regional appearance and played in the district tournament, while also having high finishes in the league. Fairfield has always been competitive."
Butler is looking forward to the challenge of coaching a young team in his first season as the FHS head coach.
"We lost a lot to graduation, but we have a good, young group of players returning. To start with a young group … a group that has talent, that is always a bonus," Butler said.
Being a mathematics teacher at Fairfield High School, Butler is already familiar with his players. While also coaching the Legion team, Butler has covered high school sports for newspapers in the area.
"I'm familiar with the kids as a teacher, so it is good to be familiar with them. I know the kids from the classroom, so in terms of transition to the baseball field, it will be an easy transition," he said. "I'm looking forward to coaching them, but there is a difference in coaching Legion baseball and high school baseball."
Coaching the Legion team, Butler had players from five different counties, but there are more differences than that with both types of baseball, including just how Butler will coach the game.
"With the Legion program, we have good players from the area, who already have fundamental skills. Our goal with Legion is to get players to come together as a team," Butler said. "At the high school level, we work on the basic fundamentals at the start, plus we have more time to get a team ready for the season.
"We'll have four weeks to work before the high school season. Like I said, we'll work on fundamentals at the beginning, then we'll work our way to game situations and those types of things."
Butler continued to talk about the FHS tradition, wanting to continue the winning ways of the Lions program.
"We will work to keep the winning tradition, and we want a competitive team day-in, day-out," Butler said. "Though I haven't coached at the high school level for a few years, I haven't lost touch with it. Coaching the Legion team, and covering games for newspapers, has allowed me to have a good relationship with high school sports. It's not like I have completely been away."[[In-content Ad]]