Different players, but common theme: Sarasota's Clyde Metcalf was a winner

SARASOTA — To Matt Drews, it was his commitment. "That's the easy word that comes to mind."

To Erik Keech, consistency and energy. "You see him once every two or three years and he greets you like you're the most important player to ever come through the program."

But to Ray Suplee, Clyde Metcalf meant one thing — Winning.

"Just kind of one word," said Suplee, the former Sarasota High baseball player with the highest single season batting average (.591) in the program's history. "Everything we did was to compete and improve and, ultimately, to win."

Clyde steps down: Metcalf retiring as Sarasota High baseball coach after 41 seasons

Mulhollen steps in: Greg Mulhollen is next head baseball coach at Sarasota High

Greg Mulhollen certainly has big cleats to fill. But before the new Sailor baseball coach puts his stamp on the team, one final look at the old one. The former Sailor player himself who, after graduating Florida State University, returned home to build and oversee a high school hardball dynasty.

For 41 years coaching the Sailors, starting in 1981, Metcalf won 950 times. He did it, Suplee said, through his ability to motivate, and like any great leader, by getting troops to perform as one.

"He took a bunch of egos and got everybody to pull in the same direction," said Suplee, who attended the University of Georgia for three seasons before selected by the New York Yankees in the sixth round of the 1992 June draft. In six minor-league seasons, all in Class A, Suplee hit .260.

"He'd say, 'we're going to win and everybody's going to contribute. We're going to win today and who's going to be the hero?' He instilled a sense of belief in the guys.

"We went into every game not in a cocky way, but sure we were going to win, and how comfortable was the margin going to be?  Everybody thought they were going to be the guy who goes 4-for-4 and gets the game-winning hit."

Besides the 950 wins for Metcalf, there were two national titles, six state crowns, 14 appearances in the FHSAA State Final 4, induction in 2019 into the FHSAA Hall of Fame, and the pride of seeing 200 of his players play college baseball, 70 play pro ball, and 14 reach the Major Leagues.

Indeed, following his retirement last month, Metcalf got a place, the final one, on my Mount Rushmore of area coaching legends. Metcalf joins Joe Kinnan, Paul Maechtle, and John Sprague as the Fab Four, four old-schoolers from an era which won't be seen again.

"It's weird that he's retiring," Drews said. "To see it actually happen, it is kind of weird."

Indeed, 41 years as coach at one school displays unwavering commitment, but to Drews, a former first-round pick of the New York Yankees, Metcalf possessed impeccable timing, often followed by a figurative boot in the rear. He knew what each player needed, at just the precise time.

For Drews, that was a healthy portion of embarrassment.

Before his senior season pitching at Sarasota, the grandson of former big leaguer Karl Drews had signed with the University of Texas. He would go on to post a 10-2 record for the Sailors, a 1.27 ERA, and strike out 125 in 88 innings. But on this early morning in 1993, Drews was pitching in a game at the Lake Brantley tournament. When he took the mound, he noticed at least 50 radar guns, all pointed at him.

We'll let the 47-year-old Drews take it from here.

"I was like, 'Whoa.' I think I threw maybe 1½ innings and I was topping out at about 86 mph. I was not ready for that moment. We went back to the hotel after the game and Clyde called our whole team into a hotel room and let us have it. 'You guys are supposed to be so great' and everything, and then he specifically pointed at me. 'You're afraid to pitch with all those guys out there. Where is your talent level?'''

Even Sailor baseball assistant Tom Whitehurst, Drew's head coach when he played football, laid into him. Said Drews, "Clyde said, 'you're pitching again tonight. You'll be throwing against Winter Park High School and you're only going to throw fastballs.'

"I was only going to throw an inning or two, but I was embarrassed about pitching again. That night, I went out there and was throwing low to mid-90s. (Metcalf and Whitehurst) got me ticked off; they challenged me.

"I think I pitched one or two perfect innings. There was one scout in the stands and it just totally changed my mindset for the rest of that season. It also changed the mindset of the team for the rest of the season. We won the state championship and it really sort of jump-started all of us to say, 'you are going to bring it, you have to show up, you got to give it everything you've got and let your talent shine.''

What Brian Whitlock got from Metcalf was honesty. The Sailor third baseman on that '93 state title team hit just .250. As a 7-year old, Whitlock had attended a baseball camp run by Metcalf. Now, without any college scholarship offers on the table, Whitlock went to Metcalf, hoping he would confirm what Whitlock believed. That he was a better player than he had shown.

"I said, 'hey, coach, I'd like to continue to play,''' Whitlock said. "I wasn't satisfied. No one was calling about a 6-foot, 150-pound third baseman. I was overshadowed by other guys. But I didn't know what he was going to say."

What he did know was that Metcalf wouldn't throw him a change-up. Just straight down-the-middle heat. "Hey," Metcalf told Whitlock, "you did not have the best senior year. I can't make a bunch of phone calls (to colleges) on your behalf and say, 'I got this guy' but I know you can play and I know that you're better."

That's all Whitlock needed to hear. "I didn't have a good year, but I wanted to know that he thought I could do it."

Whitlock ended up a preferred walk-on at Central Florida Community College, and following two years there, played two more at the University of North Carolina.

"He would never say, 'you're not good enough,''' Drews said. "He made sure you knew you could do it and that you believed you could do it. His quote was, 'I can't coach scared.' What he's saying is that if you're scared, I can't coach you. There's nothing I can do for you, mentally, if you don't believe."

"It sounds hokey," Suplee said, "but it was family, and it was appreciation, and it was appreciation for everybody. Everybody contributed; everybody mattered. I played for a lot of people, but if any one of them called me (right now) with a flat tire, I'd have to apologize to you and go find a way to help them. I can't say that about every team I've been on."

Those teams weren't coached by Clyde Metcalf, the eternal father of this family, the Sarasota High School baseball program.

"He remembers every player," Keech said.

Just as every player will remember him.

Sail on, Sailor.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota baseball coach Clyde Metcalf was a winner until his retirement