Kyle Werman named head baseball coach at La Salle
Yesterday, La Salle announced that Kyle Werman would succeed Joe Parisi, who remains a teacher and athletic director, as the school's baseball coach.
Taking over a Catholic League baseball program coming off a Class AAAA state championship, its second in three seasons, and replacing a long-time head coach can certainly be daunting.
But, so can becoming a first-time teacher. Such is the case for La Salle High's new baseball coach Kyle Werman.
"There were definitely some nerves," Werman said with a chuckle via phone yesterday. "As an athlete you can always reflect back on your experiences on the field and that's how I kind of felt Day 1 getting thrown into it."
Yesterday, La Salle announced in a statement that Werman would succeed Joe Parisi, who remains a teacher and athletic director, but retired from coaching after 28 seasons following last year's state title run.
A 4-year-starter at second base and catcher at the University of Virginia ('04), Werman, who also played in the minor leagues in the New York Mets' organization, has spent the last seven years as a division I baseball coach.
For the last two seasons, Werman, a Vienna, Va. native, has been an assistant at St. Joseph's University (George Mason and Radford Universities before that). Now, Werman, who earned a bachelor's in engineering and a master's in education, is teaching math and physics.
"I've had plenty of time to prepare and set up a lesson plan," he said of his first day. "It felt like doing a presentation in school. Fortunately, the support here from the other teachers is fantastic."
"The biggest challenge is that it's one thing to know the information, but another thing to teach it," he said. "I've had plenty of experience teaching in a different realm on the field. And I feel like my teaching style on the field will be similar to the classroom."
In its statement, La Salle said, "a coach-parent-administrative search committee reviewed and interviewed candidates for the position and made recommendations to the school administration."
Werman said that while coaching-staff decisions have not been made, he is open to retaining those coaches who wish to continue with the program.
"I'm just very passionate," he said. "I'm excited to be a part of this program. It's a great opportunity. There will be plenty of sleepless night trying to juggle both tasks as a new teacher and coach, but I'm up for the challenge and excited to keep this thing moving in the right direction."