Longtime Garey baseball coach hired at Western
Longtime Garey baseball coach Monse Estrada was hired to be the head coach at Western Christian on Jan. 17. Estrada spent the first 39 years of his coaching career at Garey before being asked to leave after last season. Estrada takes over a Western Christian program that won three consecutive league titles prior to last season's sixth-place finish in the Ambassador League.
"I think we're pretty well in the top of the league," Estrada said. "These kids go hard for two and a half hours of practice. They're dedicated. That's all you can ask for."
Estrada brings plenty of success and an abundance of experience to Western Christian. He had opportunities to be an assistant coach but wanted to hold out for a head coaching job.
"With his philosophy and ours, it was yes, yes, yes all the way down the checklist," Western Christian athletic director Nick Karavedas said. "He has the knowledge of how to build a program but the patience and maturity to help us through a bit of a rebuilding phase."
Robin Bates coached Western Christian last season after the lengthy tenure of Mark Gabbard ended in 2010 but departed after one year due to baseball's scheduling conflicts with other duties.
Estrada didn't leave Garey on the best of terms after much of the baseball team's equipment, the majority of which he purchased with his own money, was lost in a move. After last season, Estrada was not asked to return to coach a 40th season at Garey.
"The school lost about $10,000 worth of equipment and they told me it was my fault for bringing things that I bought on campus," Estrada said. "The district needs to understand that we're losing all our athletes to other schools because the facilities are so bad. The administration just doesn't care about athletics. But if I could do it all over again, I'd do the same thing because I care so much about the kids I had at Garey."
About Clay
Clay Fowler has been covering high school sports for six years in California and Texas. He was born in Dallas, attended the University of Texas and worked in Central Texas before joining the Daily Bulletin staff in 2006.
Email Clay here
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