The Athletic Department hired a new head baseball coach in September after a long search over the summer. 

The new coach Matt Lamovec attended Mayfield High School, where he played four years of baseball, and continued on to play at Lakeland Community College. He then transferred to Bowling Green State University where he studied middle childhood education. 

In 2016 he made the switch from working in a school to the IT field. He currently works as the Team Lead for the company Vinson, where he manages technology needs for local schools. 

Lamovec has coached boys baseball within the age range from 12 to 18. He previously coached in the Mayfield Boys Baseball League and worked as Shaker’s JV coach. Until being hired at Beachwood, he coached the Ohio Mavericks program for 15 year olds. 

Coming off of back-to-back CVC titles and a 19-6 record last year, the Bison have been gearing up for the regular season to start in less than a month. 

Junior Jaycob Zabell described what the first couple weeks of practice have looked like. 

“So far, we’ve just been getting down to the basics of what plays we’re going to run this year,” he said. “The coach is just trying to understand what he has to work with this year because he’s new.” 

Zabell feels that Lamovec will be a strong leader for the team this year.

“I think he’s doing a great job,” he said. “It’s a big adjustment going to a new school with talent you don’t know, and I think he’s been doing a good job with getting to know everyone. 

One scrimmage down, Zabell feels confident moving forward.

“I’m looking forward to a successful season,” he added.

The season starts March 27 with a home game against the Garrett Morgan Falcons. 

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It took longer than expected to find a head coach this year, and Athletic Director Ryan Peters, speaking with the Beachcomber in September, felt the process was part of the problem.

Peters described what Beachwood’s hiring process looks like when in need of a new head coach. 

“Typically there is a first round interview conducted by one or two administrators, including myself, and there is a first round pre-screening, usually about a 20 minute long virtual meeting,” he said. “Then we decide who we’re going to bring back for round two, which includes more administrators.” 

The process has evolved over the years to include players and parents in the interview process, and Peters feels that this can cause some problems. 

“There’s some fear in it, and there comes a divide,” he said. “Sometimes you have kids that like one candidate and the parents like another, or the kids are split between two options.” 

“Sometimes when they find out who the candidates are, they start doing their own digging, and they come up with a preconceived notion of who [the candidates] are,” Peters added.

Coach Lamovec, interviewed in October, had not seen this type of process before, but felt that it went smoothly.

“It was a good process because you get to meet everybody involved,” he said.

Lamovec is glad that parents and players were included in the process.

“It was a really good experience because those are the people you’re going to be interacting with every day, so starting to get [to know them] right from the rip is great,” he added. 

He was able to get to know players through the questions they asked and was able to have discussions that showed where their goals were going to align. 

Although Lamovec enjoyed the hiring process, he wishes it had taken place earlier. 

“I definitely wish it had been sooner, which I understand the situation as it was, but just trying to play catchup at this point,” he said. “A lot of other schools that didn’t have to go through a hiring process are already getting things set. I’ve had some good resources to talk with though, which makes things a little easier.”

However, Lamovec doesn’t feel the impact of his September hiring will really affect the team’s upcoming season. 

“The goal is just to see player growth,” he said. “Yes, winning is what we want to do, but I also try to monitor benchmarking to track how players are progressing.”

“I also think building team chemistry is one of the most important things and building an open line of communication [between players and coaching staff is important] because it sets the expectations,” he added.

Peters is glad to have hired Lamovec, but feels the process was flawed.

He notes that there were multiple rounds of candidates, which isn’t ideal when trying to find a new head coach in a timely fashion.

“We had a first set of candidates, and they went through rounds of interviews,” he said. “At the end [of the first set], we did not feel we had the right candidate.” 

Mike White was one of many baseball parents who participated in the interviews.

“The first round of interviews, the questions weren’t nearly as focused on baseball coaching and more about the relationships they would make,” White said. “But they made necessary changes on the next round of interviews, which was much more focused on baseball operations.” 

One of Peters’ concerns is about clearly indicating when the process will come to an end. 

“Round three is called a final round interview so people think that that’s it, but there is a deliberation period,” Peters said. “I think that that part should not be called the final round. I think that needs to be changed.” 

Junior Josh Rosenblitt feels that players’ input is beneficial in many ways.

“I liked the process of how they incorporated the kids and the parents in it,” he said. “I like the idea that Beachwood values its students’ input.” 

However, Rosenblitt agrees with Peters that prospective coaches are expected to appease too large of a group.

“A lot of people have different views on it,” Rosenblitt said. “Maybe having a select few people would help.” 

White feels the process went well and appreciated the inclusion of parents and players input. 

“It went well,” he said. “It was nice to be involved in the process, and I like that they involved the players,” he said. “I liked that they allowed us an opportunity to provide feedback.”