High School Sports:
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor
La Salle took a big step in the right direction when it recently hired Brian Walsh to be the Lancers’ athletics director.
Walsh spent the last 16 years at St. Anthony in Long Beach, which also happens to be his alma mater.
Over that span, the Saints’ programs earned 45 league titles, eight CIF-SS and State Regional championships and nine CIF-SS individual titles.
Walsh takes over amid challenging times.
It’s no secret that many of the Lancers’ programs are reeling and the turnover rate among its coaches has been high over the past three years.
He acknowledged La Salle is going through a rough patch of late, but that he embraces it as a challenge and is optimistic that over time, the Lancers will right the ship sooner rather than later.
In a phone interview Friday, Walsh said one of his first moves will be to meet with as many of the La Salle coaches as possible and to let them know he is there to support them and is willing and eager to help in any way possible.
Walsh’s track record at St. Anthony and his recipe for success speaks for itself.
He’s also a very bright man.
Walsh earned both a bachelor and master’s degree from Cal State Long Beach, and a second master’s from Loyola Marymount.
What impressed this writer most in the conversation with Walsh, was, that despite having so much success at St. Anthony, his approach wasn’t to burn everything to the ground and start over from scratch.
Instead, Walsh very much wants to come in and learn all of the traditions at La Salle, to build relationships with the administrators, coaches and its athletes, and to make tweaks here and there when they are needed.
Walsh is very much about winning, but he also believes that doing things the right way is a much better approach, as opposed to ‘winning at all costs.’
He is acutely aware of how valuable lessons learned and experience gained through competing in high school athletics is translatable as their student-athletes grow into young women and men.
Quotable:
New La Salle AD, Brian Walsh:“I was looking for a change and I’m very excited to get started. I was familiar with La Salle, because we competed against each other, and I’ve always been impressed with their facilities and the school in general. Creating stability in sports is very important to its success and that all starts with my relationships with the coaches. As much as football is the biggest sport in high school athletics, I am going to make sure that every program on this campus knows they are just as important and valuable as is football. I am very appreciative of my time at St. Anthony and I will always be grateful to them.”
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