The Reed baseball team’s stretch without a coach is over.
Athletic Director Ryan Sims told the Sparks Tribune on Tuesday that Levi Matherly will be the successor to John Phenix, who stepped down after the spring season.
Matherly, 37, spent the last two years, his first in Northern Nevada, as Galena’s head JV coach. He also spent one year in Colorado after leaving Las Vegas, where he started coaching at Green Valley in 2001.
“I’m just hoping to keep some of those traditions (at Reed),” Matherly said. “And hopefully starting some new ones.”
Reed’s new skipper has a baseball history that goes back to his playing days when he was an all-state prep player. He played collegiately at the University of Northern Colorado as a shortstop and pitcher.
He takes over a Reed team that found itself atop the standings early in the season then struggled late, finishing 17-14, 10-12 – good for the DI North’s eighth and final playoff spot. Galena and Spanish Springs ended the Raiders’ playoff run after just two games.
Matherly described his coaching style as attacking.
“(I prefer) being aggressive, putting the pressure on teams,” he said. “I look forward to kind of building a program from the ground up. I don’t want to give away all the secrets in this area but that’s the gist of it. Get kids involved and try to go and win some games.”
Also a new special education teacher at Reed, Matherly said he likely won’t meet with the team for the first time until after school starts on August 8.
“(I want to) improve on our finishes the couple years. I know eighth place last year and fifth or sixth the year before that,” Matherly said. “Hopefully we can improve on that and see what we can do.”
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