Baseball: Taft hires Pony coach

Scott Osder, a long-time coach at West Hills Pony baseball, has been selected the new baseball coach at Taft. He replaces Chuck Berrington, who guided the Toreadors to their first playoff berth in 10 years before resigning to take over at Newbury Park.

He was selected by a committee that included two players, a parent, a teacher and two coaches.

"We all felt he was the best candidate," Principal Sharon Thomas said. "He's a brilliant man."

Osder has never coached at the high school level other than spending two months last fall helping coach at Harvard-Westlake.

Bob Kodama, who has coached for more than 30 years at West Hills and whose son, Matt, was on the Taft committe, said of Osder, "I was very impressed with him. He's got his fundamentals down."

-- Eric Sondheimer

Comments

[High School Baseball Watcher]

Really?

So, Coach Osder may be a good guy, knows his fundementals and helped out at Harvard Westlake, but come on, a gut with no high school experience is the "best candidate" for the job?

That is a stretch, but if everyone at Taft is happy and the Juniors and Seniors looking for recrutiing and draft options in the comong years feel that way, I would be surprised. Good luck coach, Taft is a good school with a lot of talent that needs someone to guide them in a very tough City Division.

[parent]

what a joke. Who is the clown administrator at the school in charge of hiring?
Is this some kind of joke? a pony league coach? No high school experience? committee with kids picking the coach? Who is this sharon thomas?

best candidate for the job? Why? tell me why he is the best candidate for the job? can anybody tell me why?

[wha-wha what?]

Why wasn't the athletic director involved in the hiring process? Where was he hiding out? This is one of the zaniest hirings I have heard of in a very long time. I guess taft will be the doormat of the league all over again. Coaching has much more to do than a coach "having his fundamentals down" The truth is taft didn't want a real coach. Poor taft baseball!

[joe simon]

I think that this was a smart choice. Unlike all of you, the administration knows what they are doing. If they think this guys good i am sure he will be.

Maybe you all are putback because you or the person you wanted for the job did not get it.
I think he'll turn out to do a wonderful job.

I am sure he knows what he is doing. That is why he got picked in the long run.

Plus it would take a smart person to get to be at harvard-westlake so he must know what hes doing.

[Read First......]

Joe,

Clearly you are positioning for something, cool I get that. However, did you actually read the excerpt:

"Osder has never coached at the high school level other than spending two months last fall helping coach at Harvard-Westlake."

Two months, probably because he knew someone. Our kids need a coach, a teacher, someone who actually is invested in the school. The administration I am afraid may have made a mistake here and no, time will not tell. It is a mistake.

We do not need a PONY coach running the program. This is high scool, in a very tough division with a very tough set of supporters. Someone with no experience is absolutely the wrong direction for this program.

Tough road ahead for Taft as having a coach with a leanring curve is not a good thing for our current and future ball players.

[ROBB HYNES]

He does know Baseball inside and out ! A smart man with many many years of Baseball under his belt. My son played Pony baseball with him last year. Won the Championship ! Incredible practice and game routines, you'll be fine... can't you hear the birds chirping ????

[ROBB WHO?]

Robb,

There is no question Coach Osder is a good coach, however, unlike Pony high school is different. There is a lot on the line for these players, a lot in the way of school and reputation and I am sorry we hired the wrong guy. Our kids deserve a seasoned coach with experience to take our program back to where it needs to be.

We play Chatsworth, ECR and Cleveland 3 times each. What has Coach Osder done? Won the Pony West Hills Hills daddy ball division? Ok, that is a great accomplishment, but again, he has never had to give a scouting report to a college, has never had to actually coach the in's and outs of high school and up until 2 seasons ago he was coaching his own kid. So, although you may have had a good experience at Pony with him, where are his credentials to coach at this level?

No one is questioning how great of a guy Scott Osder may be, but this decision by our administration just goes to show how out of touch they are with the baseball program! Go Taft football, because that is all they care about!

[whatever]

Dont short change the administration!! They care about basketball too.

[valley baseball watcher]

The principle at taft is a joke. Hiring a tee ball coach is an insult. Of course the other coaches at the school will be thrilled because the can bully the tee ball coach and keep the baseball field opened for soccer practice.. If the principle had a clue the would have kept the old coach. She didn't give him the support he needed. Berrington didn't bail on his players the principle did.If she would have taken care of the baseball program he would have still been there.I suggest the a.d. look to run the sports program. That is why they hire them.And as far as the principle at taft thanks for being you you have weaken our program just when coach berrington started to give it life. Time to look for a new principle

[Lee Turner]

To correct the record, Osder was interviewed by approx. 20 individuals at Taft, and assistant-coached at Harvard Westlake for nine months, not two.

I have seen this man take a less than stellar group of kids and turn them into a hard working, aggressive, goal-oriented team. I have also seen other coaches with far more experience at the high school, even college-level, who cannot hold a candle to Scott Osder. He is both tough and fair, and brings tremendous character to the game. Oh, and did I mention, losing is not an option for him?

Reluctant to endorse just anyone, my bet is Osder will prevail and put to shame anyone who does not know him and makes gross assumptions based on limited information.

[Get the facts]

Lee,

Osder coached for (2) not (9) months. Where does your boy play?

Osder may have doen well in Pony and coached those kids to good seasons, but then again so have many other dads out there. The issue is EXPERIENCE and what the title of HEAD VARSITY COACH requires to have a job. I am sure there are plenty of guys just like Osder out there who dream of coaching in high school and probably some even coach at different schools, but as assistants not HEAD VARSITY COACH.

This is almost like having Sarah Palin run for VP! No experience, learning curve is too long and the job title does not fit the candidates resume.

[Some Random Person]

All this negativity should put you all to shame. How is a new coach suppose to start off on the right foot when there is such negative things being posted. I'm not a huge baseball fan. In fact, I don't even watch baseball. My point? Give the guy a fair chance. Baseball = fun. Baseball does NOT = a group of uptight parents giving thieir 2 sense on who should coach. All these negative posties should buy some peanuts and crackers jacks and kick back.