Head varsity baseball coach Corby Lange resigns

After 15 years as the head varsity baseball coach, Corby Lange announced his resignation Wednesday after school in his room.

Ryan Blank, Mary Kiani Nia

Olivia Dowell, Writer

Wanting to spend more time with his family, head varsity baseball coach Corby Lange announced his resignation after coaching for 15 years at BVNW during a meeting with his team on Wednesday.

“I’m going to be more involved with coaching my older son’s team and trying to spend more time around them,” Lange said. “Both of my kids play five sports competitively, so they’re really busy and I don’t want to miss out.”

Junior and designated hitter Sean Roseborough said Lange’s coaching style is flexible and persistent.

“He definitely gives you a lot of freedom with what you need to work on and you’re expected to know what you have to work on to get better,” Roseborough said. “He’s very persistent, which is a good thing, but at the same time he kind of lets you focus on your development.”

Roseborough said the team will keep the same dynamic and structure.

“We’ll just carry out the traditions of how we play and keeping our values,” Roseborough said.

Lange echoed Roseborough’s thoughts, and said the new coach will need to put the players first in the program.

“Traits all coaches should have would be to put kids at the center and focus on building good relationships,” Lange said. “We will have a great next season [with] great kids coming back that care a lot about the game and each other.”

Principal Amy Murphy has worked alongside Lange for the majority of his coaching career at BVNW.

“He’s been good for the program,” Murphy said. “Any students who’ve been part of that program have had positive experiences and [the team] has been quite successful.”

Lange said one of his favorite memories of his coaching career included Tuesday night’s 2-0 win over Olathe East.

“Tuesday night was just an awesome experience because the place was packed,” Lange said. “That was a great, great memory to have our last home game.”

Murphy said the team dynamic after his departure will have unforeseen changes, but she is looking forward to seeing the development of the new coach.

“We’ve got a pretty successful program here,” Murphy said. “We’re looking for somebody who can come in and continue to develop and grow that program. We’re really looking at developing young players into the best adults that we can.”

With the news of head soccer coach Rick Pribyl retiring as well as Lange’s resignation, Athletic Director Kevin Gerke said the two head coaches share similar relationships with their athletes.

I think in both cases they’re great coaches who’ve built great programs the right way,” Gerke said. “Much like with Dr. Pribyl, we’re gonna want somebody who’s gonna come in and be able to continue kind of that culture, that tradition that coach Lange already has in place in terms of relationships with kids and success on the field.”