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Baseball: Flower Mound, Marcus need new baseball coaches
By Justin Thomas, jthomas@starlocalnews.com
It seems every time athletic director Randy Mayes and LISD's hiring committee fills a vacancy, a new one opens up.
Or two.
Slightly more than a week after hiring Jason Fossett to take over as head boys basketball coach at Flower Mound, Mayes and the district learned that both Flower Mound head baseball coach Marte Amrine and Marcus head baseball coach Dustin Sykora will be leaving their respective posts.
Both Amrine and Sykora leave their programs after short but successful stints.
Amrine manned the Jaguars dugout for three seasons, leading Flower Mound to a district title and three playoff appearances. Sykora, meanwhile, took Marcus to the playoffs in his second season on the job.
"We're really proud of the way both coaches handled their programs and what they did for the kids," Mayes said. "The thing that sticks out the most is that both of them, in addition to their success, were great for and cared for the kids. They both made great contributions to LISD and we'll miss them both."
The losses of Amrine and Sykora are the latest in a recent trend of turnover among LISD coaches, in particular on the boys side.
In 2012-13, LISD will have first-year coaches at the following posts: Lewisville football (Gregg Miller), Lewisville volleyball (Libby Rodriguez), Marcus boys basketball (open), Marcus baseball (open), Flower Mound football (Dane Johnson), Flower Mound boys basketball (Fossett), Flower Mound baseball (open) and The Colony girls soccer (open).
For Marcus baseball, which has reached the playoffs in two of the last three years, including an appearance in the Region I Semifinals, instability could be an issue as the Marauders search for their third coach in the past four seasons.
"It's a big worry and a concern," Mayes said. "Part of the new hire is going to be making sure they know that the expectations are very high and there is a lot of pressure to succeed."
Mayes added that he didn't believe the instability is because of any butting of heads within the athletic department.
"I don't think that has anything to do with it," he said. "Staff-wise, everything is fine. I think Dustin just thought it was the right time to make a move."
Mayes said the positions have been posted and the district is looking to fill each vacancy shortly.
"We've opened them up and the committee will look at candidates," he said. "We'll scale down each position to four candidates and we'll look to fill them all up."
Sykora leaves after posting a 40-25 record and a loss in the bi-district round of the playoffs this season to Southlake Carroll. The Dragons played in the regional semifinals this weekend (results not available as of press time).
"The thing that sticks out to me the most about Dustin is the way he held the team together as an assistant a couple of years ago," Mayes said. "He was an assistant and they made the playoffs as the fourth seed, but he really had a big impact on them making it all of the way to the regional semifinals."
Amrine, meanwhile, took over at Flower Mound as an interim coach, but quickly secured the head coaching position.
"We told him if he accepted the interim position and it worked out, it was his," Mayes said. "And if he didn't, then we would open up the position. He came right in and the team had a great year. They went 14-1 and won the district and went on to make the playoffs in all three of his years."
Amrine departs with a career record of 78-29. The Jaguars reached the second round of the playoffs in 2010, the first round in 2011 and the second round in 2012.
"I've been a baseball coach for nine years and six of them have been at Flower Mound," Amrine said. "I've loved my time and it has been a blast. The last three weeks of losing in the playoffs and having to make this decision have been very tough."
Amrine heads to Brock, where his family -- he has two kids, ages five and seven -- has roots.
"My grandfather was a cattle rancher there," he said. "And I named my son Brock after the city and the experiences we had there. We have land out there and go out there to hunt and fish all of the time. "We've always wanted our kids to grow up in a smaller and more laid back town. The timing was just right. If it wasn't the exact city of Brock, we would have turned it down. But each time I started to lean toward staying in Flower Mound, it seemed like something else would push us to Brock. It was a tough but good decision."
Amrine also liked the prospects of coaching both football and baseball without the headaches of being a head coach.
"I think it's more fun as an assistant," Amrine said. "I can look at it just from the coaching perspective and not all of the responsibilities that come with being a head coach."
Despite being in Brock, Amrine will still have his doors open to former players and believes the current Jaguars will be successful in the future.
"I still want to be a part of their lives," he said. "I don't want this to seem like I am turning my back and am leaving. My door is always open for whatever they need.
"When my wife and I took over three years ago, our goal was to make the kids better men. In seeing how they handled the loss against Carroll a couple of weeks ago, there is no question we accomplished that. I'm sure they're going to be outstanding again next year and can make a run at a district title."
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