Coach Stickley
Stick loves baseball.
The office, small and quaint, is full of evidence: from the grey, framed picture of past players on the walls to the small collection of off-white baseballs resting on the desk, baseball is everywhere.
On this crisp, misty Tuesday morning when most of campus is still asleep, Coach Stick is already in his office on the fourth floor of the Doremus gym.
Stick. Coach Stick. Or just coach - but never Stickley. In fact, for as long as anyone can recall, he’s always been Stick. No one seems to remember that his name is Stickley – actually, it’s Mervin – Mervin Stickley. Coach Mervin Stickley has been here for 22 years now.
8:11 AM.
Coach Stick is always early to work. And on this particular Tuesday, he’s preparing for a road game to Bridgewater College, his alma mater.
"I’ve been asked this time and again," he said in a slow and calming southern drawl, "it doesn’t matter to me that we’re playing Bridgewater. We’ve played there many times – we won some and lost some. It’s nice to be back but I don’t care." And that’s exactly how Stick operates. As head baseball coach at Washington and Lee, as a P.E instructor, as a colleague and as a father – he’ll tell you exactly how it is and exactly what he thinks.
Unless it concerns himself –
He’ll say he "just wants to make the ODAC tournaments," and that he "coached for a few other places too." But there’s so much more to Stick than just that - his modesty tends to overshadow things.
As chairman of the Old Dominion Athletics Conference (ODAC) baseball coaches committee, he stands as the winningest baseball coach in the school history with 293 wins thus far. In addition to helping the W&L Generals to nine straight winning seasons, he has also led them to the ODAC tournament the last five years. He was named ODAC “Coach of the Year” in ’96, ’99, and ’03 and managed three players who went on to play in the minor leagues of the Atlanta Braves, Pittsburg Pirates and San Diego Padres.
One Michael Hanson, who is amongst the three drafted to the minors, recalled an argument he had with Stick while still at W&L: "he told me, he said 'Feel free to come to my office anytime. Come tell me what you think, I’ll tell you what I think, and we’ll do what I think.'"
"Stick is the best coach I’ve ever played for on any level," he continued. "He never lost sight of the big picture – he is the funniest, nicest and most consistent."
Stick is consistent, alright.
Stick only has two rules for his players and he is consistent about them: come ready to play and play hard. And that means: going to practices, tucking personal matters away when on the field, no drinking 24 hours prior to games and no mental mistakes.
He hates mental mistakes.
"Stick really doesn’t tolerate mistakes, especially mental mistakes," explained W&L senior and catcher, Dan Harris. Harris, hailing from Longwood, Florida, has been with Stick for four years. "The mound visits can be pretty intense, I’ve seen a lot of them – that’s because of his intensity towards the game, though he has only been thrown out of the game three times in his life - and he always defends his players. As long as you don’t break the two rules and disrespect the game, you’re fine."
Last season after the Generals swept a doubleheader at an away game, Coach Stick gathered his players together before the bus trip home. But before praising them and recapping on the wins, he decided to address something else first: he had heard rumors that some of the players had been drinking the night before and wanted to remind them of the rules, of the consistency he expects out of them.
Then he went right back to a seat in the front of the bus. Stick always sits in this designated front seat with his walkman, duffle bag, briefcase and a clipboard that he always notches onto the front of his sweatpants. That’s Stick alright – the clipboard in front of the pants – that’s Stick doing his own thing.
The players reconvened in the back of the bus, put on a movie, and revived the chatters. Stick doesn’t care. They played two great games and he said what he had to say. And that’s Stick, in essence – as long as things are taken care of on the field, off the field business means little. That is, until a raunchy scene of the selected movie, "The 40 Year-old Virgin," appeared. Stick got up from his seat, turned it off and offered no words.
Although Stick is strict with his rules, he also willingly seeks other opinions and readily admits to his mistakes.
"The program progressed in a way where better players are being recruited and you can rely on them – Stick trusts his players," said sophomore and pitcher, Jim Plantholt. "He seeks our opinions, especially the seniors."
"During a game, Stick would ask me what I’d think of so-and-so’s performance – especially for pitchers, he’d ask if I thought they have any stuff left, things like that" continued Harris. "He does this with all the seniors, he really value our opinions, particularly the captains of course."
But once, during a particular poor performance, Stick lost it. Be it mental mistakes or just sheer bad luck, the Generals weren’t producing runs and the pitching staff was mediocre at best. For the rest of the game and for the usual post game gathering - out of frustration - Stick reprimanded the team and let out a string of colorful phrases in response to the results of the game. No one was offended and no one was surprised.
The following day, during practice, he got the team together and announced: "I’d like to apologize for yesterday. Now I’m not apologizing for what I’ve said – but I apologize for how I’ve said it." They weren’t surprised about this either. Because that’s just Stick – he knows himself and he knows people.
"Stick really knows how to handle people," said Plantholt. "He understands people, whether it’s players, empires or coaches, he knows how to work with them and get the best out of them."
Former W&L Student Athletics Director, Mike Walsh agrees: "Stick is the most down to earth, unpretentious person. Players love playing for him – he doesn’t let the trappings of athletics get to him, he’s in it for the right reasons."
Aside from the game, Stick really loves his Schlitz, his bluegrass music, and most importantly, his daughter Sarah Elizabeth - who is a prestigious Jefferson Scholar at the University of Virginia.
"Stick raised a genius daughter," exclaimed Walsh. "Stick and Sarah used to watch the Andy Griffith show, Stick’s favorite. And they’d try to figure out the show just from the music."
Sarah, part of University of Virginia’s class of 2011, was an active member of her high school band. Stick went to all of her concerts.
"You really don’t hear much about Stick’s personal life," said Harris. "That’s just not his style. Every once in a while, he’d tell us he’s leaving early to go to one of Sarah’s concerts – but that’s about it. That and he dressed up as a hamburger at the athletics department’s Halloween party this year."
It may not be Stick’s style – but Daphne, his wife, still makes the team cookies. Oatmeal raisin cookies, to be exact. Good oatmeal raisin cookies.
Stick can’t get away from the sport and he knows it. It’s part of his life. It is his life.
When asked what else he’d like from the school considering that a new stadium was recently built for the team, Stick answered the question very thoughtfully after just a brief moment of consideration:
"Lights," he said. "Some lights in the stadium would be nice."
Stick loves baseball.
The office, small and quaint, is full of evidence: from the grey, framed picture of past players on the walls to the small collection of off-white baseballs resting on the desk, baseball is everywhere.
On this crisp, misty Tuesday morning when most of campus is still asleep, Coach Stick is already in his office on the fourth floor of the Doremus gym.
Stick. Coach Stick. Or just coach - but never Stickley. In fact, for as long as anyone can recall, he’s always been Stick. No one seems to remember that his name is Stickley – actually, it’s Mervin – Mervin Stickley. Coach Mervin Stickley has been here for 22 years now.
8:11 AM.
Coach Stick is always early to work. And on this particular Tuesday, he’s preparing for a road game to Bridgewater College, his alma mater.
"I’ve been asked this time and again," he said in a slow and calming southern drawl, "it doesn’t matter to me that we’re playing Bridgewater. We’ve played there many times – we won some and lost some. It’s nice to be back but I don’t care." And that’s exactly how Stick operates. As head baseball coach at Washington and Lee, as a P.E instructor, as a colleague and as a father – he’ll tell you exactly how it is and exactly what he thinks.
Unless it concerns himself –
He’ll say he "just wants to make the ODAC tournaments," and that he "coached for a few other places too." But there’s so much more to Stick than just that - his modesty tends to overshadow things.
As chairman of the Old Dominion Athletics Conference (ODAC) baseball coaches committee, he stands as the winningest baseball coach in the school history with 293 wins thus far. In addition to helping the W&L Generals to nine straight winning seasons, he has also led them to the ODAC tournament the last five years. He was named ODAC “Coach of the Year” in ’96, ’99, and ’03 and managed three players who went on to play in the minor leagues of the Atlanta Braves, Pittsburg Pirates and San Diego Padres.
One Michael Hanson, who is amongst the three drafted to the minors, recalled an argument he had with Stick while still at W&L: "he told me, he said 'Feel free to come to my office anytime. Come tell me what you think, I’ll tell you what I think, and we’ll do what I think.'"
"Stick is the best coach I’ve ever played for on any level," he continued. "He never lost sight of the big picture – he is the funniest, nicest and most consistent."
Stick is consistent, alright.
Stick only has two rules for his players and he is consistent about them: come ready to play and play hard. And that means: going to practices, tucking personal matters away when on the field, no drinking 24 hours prior to games and no mental mistakes.
He hates mental mistakes.
"Stick really doesn’t tolerate mistakes, especially mental mistakes," explained W&L senior and catcher, Dan Harris. Harris, hailing from Longwood, Florida, has been with Stick for four years. "The mound visits can be pretty intense, I’ve seen a lot of them – that’s because of his intensity towards the game, though he has only been thrown out of the game three times in his life - and he always defends his players. As long as you don’t break the two rules and disrespect the game, you’re fine."
Last season after the Generals swept a doubleheader at an away game, Coach Stick gathered his players together before the bus trip home. But before praising them and recapping on the wins, he decided to address something else first: he had heard rumors that some of the players had been drinking the night before and wanted to remind them of the rules, of the consistency he expects out of them.
Then he went right back to a seat in the front of the bus. Stick always sits in this designated front seat with his walkman, duffle bag, briefcase and a clipboard that he always notches onto the front of his sweatpants. That’s Stick alright – the clipboard in front of the pants – that’s Stick doing his own thing.
The players reconvened in the back of the bus, put on a movie, and revived the chatters. Stick doesn’t care. They played two great games and he said what he had to say. And that’s Stick, in essence – as long as things are taken care of on the field, off the field business means little. That is, until a raunchy scene of the selected movie, "The 40 Year-old Virgin," appeared. Stick got up from his seat, turned it off and offered no words.
Although Stick is strict with his rules, he also willingly seeks other opinions and readily admits to his mistakes.
"The program progressed in a way where better players are being recruited and you can rely on them – Stick trusts his players," said sophomore and pitcher, Jim Plantholt. "He seeks our opinions, especially the seniors."
"During a game, Stick would ask me what I’d think of so-and-so’s performance – especially for pitchers, he’d ask if I thought they have any stuff left, things like that" continued Harris. "He does this with all the seniors, he really value our opinions, particularly the captains of course."
But once, during a particular poor performance, Stick lost it. Be it mental mistakes or just sheer bad luck, the Generals weren’t producing runs and the pitching staff was mediocre at best. For the rest of the game and for the usual post game gathering - out of frustration - Stick reprimanded the team and let out a string of colorful phrases in response to the results of the game. No one was offended and no one was surprised.
The following day, during practice, he got the team together and announced: "I’d like to apologize for yesterday. Now I’m not apologizing for what I’ve said – but I apologize for how I’ve said it." They weren’t surprised about this either. Because that’s just Stick – he knows himself and he knows people.
"Stick really knows how to handle people," said Plantholt. "He understands people, whether it’s players, empires or coaches, he knows how to work with them and get the best out of them."
Former W&L Student Athletics Director, Mike Walsh agrees: "Stick is the most down to earth, unpretentious person. Players love playing for him – he doesn’t let the trappings of athletics get to him, he’s in it for the right reasons."
Aside from the game, Stick really loves his Schlitz, his bluegrass music, and most importantly, his daughter Sarah Elizabeth - who is a prestigious Jefferson Scholar at the University of Virginia.
"Stick raised a genius daughter," exclaimed Walsh. "Stick and Sarah used to watch the Andy Griffith show, Stick’s favorite. And they’d try to figure out the show just from the music."
Sarah, part of University of Virginia’s class of 2011, was an active member of her high school band. Stick went to all of her concerts.
"You really don’t hear much about Stick’s personal life," said Harris. "That’s just not his style. Every once in a while, he’d tell us he’s leaving early to go to one of Sarah’s concerts – but that’s about it. That and he dressed up as a hamburger at the athletics department’s Halloween party this year."
It may not be Stick’s style – but Daphne, his wife, still makes the team cookies. Oatmeal raisin cookies, to be exact. Good oatmeal raisin cookies.
Stick can’t get away from the sport and he knows it. It’s part of his life. It is his life.
When asked what else he’d like from the school considering that a new stadium was recently built for the team, Stick answered the question very thoughtfully after just a brief moment of consideration:
"Lights," he said. "Some lights in the stadium would be nice."
Stick loves baseball.
Labels: baseball, ODAC, stickley, washington and lee
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