Becker will make his coaching debut with Huron baseball

HURON — Gunner Becker planned to get into coaching when he was in college. After a brief detour, he has achieved that goal. Becker was approved as Huron's new baseball coach at Monday's school board meeting. He takes over for Dan Lindsley, who stepped down after this past season after leading the Tigers for 10 years. Becker, who works at Sports Force Parks as a conversions manager, is 27 years old and excited about his first coaching opportunity. The native of Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, played at Niagara Community College north of Buffalo, New York, before playing two years at Tusculum University, an NCAA Division II school in Greenville, Tennessee. "Coaching is something that I've always dreamed about and wanted to get into," Becker said. "When I was a college player committed to go to Tusculum, I kind of had an agreement with the coach that I would be a GA (graduate assistant) for my 'master's year,' but COVID threw a wrench into those plans. I had the opportunity to either GA or play another season and I had to lace 'em up one more time. I was never able to get into (coaching) after my master's year." Becker, who lives in Milan, landed an internship at Sports Force five years ago and was quickly hired as a full-time employee at the multi-sport complex on the east side of Sandusky. "I stayed there and kind of put coaching to the side," he said. "I would do some lessons, but nothing as big as coaching a high school team. "I'm excited about the opportunity. I'm sure there might be a couple people scratching their heads over a school hiring a kid who's not from the area, but I played a lot of college ball and I've seen it all being at a junior college, a brief stint at Division I (Canisius) and a stint at Division II. My goal is to make each kid a little bit better every day." Becker has a master's degree in sports administration. "We were pretty lucky. We worked to fill these positions (baseball and softball openings) quickly so they could do some stuff in the summer," Huron athletic director Matthew Ayers said. "They're two high-level players and new voices in a day and age when you're seeing super-successful young coaches. Becker interviewed for the Huron job last Monday and Tuesday and accepted the job Friday. His supplemental coaching contract will pay him $5,852 next year. "I loved everything I heard from them," he said. "I'm a little familiar with the area. I've seen that Huron's been a little bit above .500 for at least the last six years. My goal is to make it a little better every year until we are hopefully a powerhouse." Becker was a pitcher in college and said he wants to mesh old-school baseball with new-school ball. "I want to try to be as much of a hybrid between old-school baseball and new-school baseball," he said. "I grew up playing old-school baseball, and as I got older it was more about driving the ball in the gap and making sure we were pitching well and playing good defense. "I want to integrate everything together and play a hybrid style of baseball between old school and new school." Becker has plenty to offer his new pitching staff. He had an 11-6 record with a 4.86 earned run average in two years playing for Tusculum. "I will take pride in the pitchers," he said. "I want to make sure we have enough pitchers and make sure we're all on the same page. I'll also have to have plenty of discussions with my catchers as well as far as what I like and what I look at from a pitcher's perspective, how we're gonna attack hitters and make sure we do the best pitch in baseball, which is Strike 1." Becker wants to set up meeting with players, either as a group or individuals. "I know plenty of the baseball players are dual or even three-sport athletes, so I know everyone's schedule is not wide open right now, but I want to make sure that I get in there and start talking to the athletes and parents who might have questions."