Former Galion skipper coached the Eagles from 1981-95

NORTH ROBINSON — At Colonel Crawford’s Board of Education Meeting, held on Monday, June 18, the Eagles and their athletic director David Sheldon, announced the hiring of a new head baseball coach.

He’s no stranger to the Eagles and the rest of Crawford County.

The new coach is Dan Gorbett.

Gorbett began his coaching career back in 1981 with the Eagles and was there until 1995, when he brought his talents to Galion as the Tigers’ head coach. Coach Gorbett served as the main skipper for the orange and blue until 2006. After a few seasons off as a head coach, Gorbett returned to the same position, this time for the Ontario Warriors, where he coached from 2010-2016.

For the past two seasons, coach Gorbett has been in Galion, serving as an assistant coach under Phil Jackson for the Tigers and barking out play numbers for the youngsters to follow along with on their coded wristbands.

Coach Gorbett would also make the trips to the mound to settle a rattled pitcher in tough situations, proving that his knowledge of the game of baseball is more than multi-dimensional.

Throughout his historic career, Gorbett has posted a head coaching record of 535-281 which comes out to be a career winning percentage of .656. Gorbett has lead his respective squads to 11 league titles, 21 sectional championships, four district championships and two state poll championships. In doing so, he was named District Coach of the Year five total times, State Coach of the Year in 2013 and earned himself an induction to the Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame back in 2006. This past spring, coach Gorbett also received the Mac Morrison Lifetime Service Award at the Northwest District Board luncheon held in April.

The coaching change for the young Eagles baseball squad came after previous head coach Joe Swartzmiller announced his resignation following a 12-year stint with the black and yellow. Gorbett will be taking over a crop of young talent and will be, without a doubt, ready to get his new Colonel Crawford baseball team ready to compete in the Northern-10 Athletic Conference after a 4-20 overall showing which included a 2-14 record within the conference last spring.