1995 LOS ANGELES TIMES : All-Ventura Baseball Team : Coach of the Year : Royal Is Dressed Up For Maye Days

This question, posed six years ago, to candidates for the job as Royal High baseball coach:

“The program is in shambles. There is no money. The kids are depressed. What will you do?”

Don Maye’s answer involved cosmetic changes like batting cages and new uniforms.

“If the playing doesn’t get better,” Maye reasoned, “there have to be some visual changes so the program looks like it’s going better.”

Looks great so far. The Highlanders, who had gone 11 years without making the playoffs, have made it four times under Maye, the Ventura County coach of the year.

Royal hit a high-water mark this spring, advancing to the Division I quarterfinals. Maye attributes the improvement to a new pride in Royal baseball, something he helped instill by requiring players to raise funds for improvements to their field.

“I was hoping that if the players actually put some time and effort into the field, they are going to feel that what they do there is a little more important,” Maye said.