La Cañada High taps former MLB player Matt Whisenant to lead Spartans baseball team
In many ways, La Cañada Flintridge resident Matt Whisenant had the perfect resume.
The La Cañada High alumnus from the class of 1989 had more than 10 years of head coaching experience at the high school level, had played baseball a dozen years professionally, including four years in the majors and had expert knowledge in turning around struggling programs.
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All those traits coupled with wonderful character references equaled an opportunity too big for La Cañada High to pass up, and the school announced it had hired Whisenant as its varsity baseball coach on Tuesday morning.
“I think when you have the opportunity to bring someone like Matt back home, you jump at the chance,” La Cañada Principal Ian McFeat said. “We’re ecstatic because Matt is a man of integrity and deeply cares about baseball and loves baseball. I can’t wait.”
Whisenant, who did not respond to multiple requests for a comment, takes over the walk-on coaching position previously occupied by Alex Valadez, who resigned from the program after four seasons at the conclusion of the 2016 campaign in May.
La Cañada finished 9-13 this past season with a 4-8 record in the Rio Hondo League and a fourth-place finish. The Spartans missed the playoffs for the fourth time over the last five years.
“We wish Alex the best and we thank him for his contributions to the program,” said Jeff Davis, La Cañada Unified School District assistant superintendent, who had a role in the vetting process. “Alex is a high-character guy like Matt, but when you have a chance to meet and talk to someone like Matt, how can you not be impressed? He seemed like the perfect fit.”
Whisenant is a World Series champion, having played with the 1997 Florida Marlins title squad. Overall, Whisenant played professionally for 12 years and spent four seasons in Major League Baseball with stints in Florida, Kansas City and San Diego. His last season in the bigs came in 2000.
Whisenant is a Glendale Community College product and heads to La Cañada after a nine-year stint at nearby Tujunga Village Christian in which he posted a 134-105-1 record, according to maxpreps.com, won three Olympic League titles and tallied a 13-6 playoff mark.
The Crusaders advanced to the postseason in six of the last seven years and reached the quarterfinal round the last five consecutive seasons.
“I’ve only been [at Village Christian] for the last two years, but when I got here, Matt already had a well-established, very strong program,” said Mark Bates, Village Christian’s head football coach and assistant athletic director. “Matt did a great job year-round with the boys, whether that was during the regular season or with the summer program.
“La Cañada’s getting a great man of character and a competitor who, once he establishes his program, will have that team competing with the area’s best teams.”
Perhaps Whisenant’s best year was in 2014 when he guided Village Christian to the CIF Southern Section Division V title game, one it lost, 2-0, at UC Riverside.
One person who battled Whisenant throughout the years was Matt Shupper, a La Cañada High 1999 alumnus and head coach at Olympic League-rival Maranatha.
“Over the last five years and final three in particular, his teams have been the toughest we’ve faced,” said Shupper, who wrote a letter of recommendation for Whisenant. “People in La Cañada should expect to have a coach who’s going to do a great job with the pitching staff. He’s first class and the program is getting a guy who really knows how to relate to kids.”
Success did not come quickly for Whisenant at Village Christian, as the 45-year-old left Montclair Prep to take over the reins of Village Christian before the 2008 season.
Whisenant only produced one winning season in his first four campaigns and missed the playoffs in three of those four years.
In 2012, everything changed.
Village Christian finished 14-13, went 2-1 in the playoffs, reached the quarterfinals, and notched perhaps its first signature win when the Crusaders upset fourth-seeded host Serra, 4-2, in the first round of the Division V playoffs.
“I can remember back to that year because I believe it was my second year at Village,” said Jon Shaw, Village Christian’s boys’ basketball coach and assistant athletic director. “I remember that win on the road. It was one of the most historic wins in our program’s history and it showed how good a coach Matt was.
“To be honest, this is a big blow for us and a huge pick-up for La Cañada. We’re going to miss him here because coaches like that don’t often come around.”
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Andrew J. Campa, andrew.campa@latimes.com
Twitter: @campadresports