Bair steps down as Laguna Beach baseball coach

In early June, Mike Bair and the Laguna Beach High baseball team captured the CIF Southern Section Division 4 championship.

On Tuesday, Bair stepped down as head coach of the baseball program.

He said it was a “very tough decision but the right one.”

Bair, 38, said he was offered on Wednesday a part-time assistant coaching position at Foothill High.

Bair noted his desire to stay closer to home and his family, and coach his three sons (Caden, 13, Easton, 5, Colton, 2) in various sports as his main reason to step down.

He said the decision had been one in the making.

“I made the decision almost a year ago and it felt good the whole time,” he said. “It was tough but I knew deep down it would be much tougher for me to miss my sons’ games. I have an opportunity now to be an assistant coach at an amazing baseball program, which is two miles from my house and next door to where my sons attend school.

“I never really wavered, even winning CIF. I knew I wanted to finish my last season through the summer and resign in our CIF-authorized dead month in August with the hopes to keep the program moving in a positive direction and to keep the momentum. I can’t stand missing my own sons’ games in Tustin and this past season as head baseball coach, I really felt that battle and am ready to move forward.”

Bair is a graduate of Foothill High. Bair served as varsity baseball team captain his senior year (1996), the same season current Coach Vince Brown became head coach of the Knights.

“Mike played for me in my first year at Foothill,” Brown said. “About ‘98, when he was unsure what he wanted to do school-wise, he came back to coach my [Foothill] freshman team. He went to Vanguard University, played baseball there a few years, got his teaching credential, and the rest is history.

“I know where Mike is coming from. Like him, I have three sons. In 2003, I stepped away from coaching after 18 years for the next 10 years so that I could watch my sons play baseball. Being able to do that made those 10 years very special for me. I completely understand the type of decision he has made. He’s done a great job as a head coach, and we’re very fortunate to get Mike on our staff.”

Bair — in his 10th year at Thurston Middle School in Laguna Beach, where he said he will remain and teach physical education — served as junior varsity coach at Laguna prior to taking over the head coaching position. He also worked as an assistant on Jeff Sears’ varsity coaching staff and took over head coaching duties when Sears left to become head coach at Servite.

Bair’s four Laguna JV teams won league championships and in his five years as varsity head coach, his teams won four consecutive Orange Coast League titles and reached the CIF playoffs in all five years.

In addition to Foothill, Bair also served as a varsity baseball assistant at El Modena (four years) before coming to Laguna.

“My first year was really spent changing the language and culture and expectation of our players,” Bair said of his start as varsity head coach. “I wanted them to talk differently about competition and talk like they have done it before when finding success on the field. The culture began to change along with the expectation to win every day in practice and to win baseball games.

“Five years later, it has come to fruition. Our players absolutely talk like they have done it before and understand the humility aspect of baseball. They expect to win, no matter whom they play and the culture is very much like a family who protect each other and fight for each other and have built lifelong relationships.”

He went 111-34 as varsity head coach, and each of his five teams had a hand in crafting what would turn out to be an eventual Orange Country record for consecutive league victories, which ended at 53 games in April.

Bair had one word to describe his time with the program.

“Fantastic,” he said. “I learned a lot and gained much experience and grew as a person. I am very thankful for my time at Laguna Beach High School and will very much miss the players, especially this 2017 senior group.”

“He’s a great head coach,” said Cutter Clawson, who will be a sophomore at Laguna in the fall and was brought up to play varsity midway through the 2016 season his freshman year. “I guess it’s sort of a surprise, but I do understand that he wants to spend more time with his family. That’s what I’d want to do too.”

Bair’s 2014 team reached the semifinals of the Division 4 playoffs, putting the program in the semifinals for the first time in 57 years. His final group, the 2016 unit, one-upped that appearance by reaching a division final. The Breakers went on to win a Southern Section championship.

The Breakers ended their 2016 season with a 2-0 over Fontana Kaiser in the Division 4 title game at San Manuel Stadium in San Bernardino.

“I learned that winning CIF was a natural consequence of this team’s character and hard work and fight,” Bair said. “The real joy is in the process, the daily grind of staying hopeful and positive and working through issues. This group loves each other and the CIF ring/title is just a memento to remind each of us of our incredible unselfish play and team bond.”

While the memories of winning that CIF championship certainly won’t fade, there is another lasting impression that Bair said he will take with him.

“I am proud of the type of players that graduate out of here,” he said. “ I always tell players that the trophies and titles will fade but the relationships stay forever. The players really bond here and like each other and don’t spend wasted time teasing each other. They become family and fight for each other on and off the field. I am certainly not the only reason this is part of Laguna Beach High School baseball culture but to say I was a compass pointing in the right direction and to now see this as a staple in our program….I am proud of that the most.”