'It was a good run' - Mike Callahan steps aside as WPI's winningest baseball coach

Earlier this week, Mike Callahan announced his retirement as WPI baseball coach after 17 years, but he’ll remain involved with the game he loves.

Callahan will continue to help out coaching his 9-year-old son’s AAU team, and, come spring, keep tabs on the Engineers.

“I truly enjoyed my time at WPI,” said Callahan, who grew up in Worcester and starred at St. Peter-Marian. “Seventeen years is a long run, and it was a good run. It’s time to spend time with my family and let someone else come in and hopefully start a career.”

Callahan and his wife, Leah, also have a 7-year-old daughter, who is a budding gymnast. The family lives in Shrewsbury.

Callahan, who amassed 308 victories, leaves as the winningest coach in program history.

“The past 17 years have gone by too fast as Mike has devoted himself to making WPI baseball the best it can be for his student-athletes every day,” WPI director of athletics Dana Harmon said. “We are truly thankful for everything he has done as a teacher, coach and administrator. He has been a tireless worker and advocate for WPI athletics in everything he has done and will be missed, but we know he will still be close by cheering us on.”

In addition to coaching WPI, Callahan, a 2003 Franklin Pierce graduate, has spent the last 18 years working at the Worcester County Sherriff’s Office. This summer, he was promoted to captain.

Callahan, who led Franklin Pierce to the Division 2 World Series his senior season, came to WPI in 2006 after a two-year stint as Leicester High coach.

In 2007, the Engineers won the first of two ECAC New England Championships under Callahan. Two seasons later, WPI won 30 games, at the time a school single-season record for any sport, captured the regular-season NEWMAC title and earned the program’s first at-large berth to the NCAA Division 3 Tournament.

Callahan coached consensus All-Americans Connor Fahey (Class of 2009) and Alex Venditti (’16), as well as numerous All-NEWMAC, All-New England and Academic All-NEWMAC players.

“My best memories are the players, the student-athletes,” Callahan said. “My whole career was seeing the amazing things they do when they graduate, the jobs they get, and their lives after school and baseball. You truly appreciate the opportunities WPI brings for them and the jobs they can get and the lives they can make from their education. It’s just something really good to see.”

A national search for Callahan’s successor will begin immediately. Assistant coach Chris Logan and former WPI assistant and Becker coach Bob McLaughlin will lead the Engineers through the 2022 fall season.

Smith lands baseball job at Rivier

At St. John’s High, Jimmy Smith played baseball for Charlie Eppinger and basketball for Bob Foley, and both coaches had a significant influence on Smith’s future career path. In the summers, Smith, of Worcester, starred for the East Side Post 201 American Legion team, and coaches Mark Peters and Dan Generelli similarly mentored their leadoff batter.

“What started my interest in coaching was being around great coaches as a young player,” Smith said. “The passion they have for the game and athletics is something that has always stuck with me. Seeing how much they cared and worked with all the players, I had a really good coaching foundation growing up in the Worcester area.”

Smith went on to play baseball at Wheaton College and, after graduating in 2016, spent the last six seasons as an assistant on coach Eric Podbelski’s Lyons staff.

On Tuesday, the 28-year-old Smith assumed his new position as head baseball coach at Rivier University in Nashua, New Hampshire.

“Getting the next step in my career was the first thing that stuck out (about the opportunity),” Smith said. “Getting on campus here, I had a really good feeling about it. Meeting with director of athletics Jonathan Harper and other members of the staff and community, they feel similarly to me regarding athletics and the needs for this baseball team.

“Being able to come in as a young guy and take things over here, I’m very excited about it,” Smith said. “I’m very fortunate for them picking me out of a very good candidate pool.”

Smith met with his players for the first time Tuesday.

Rivier is a member of the Division 3 Great Northeast Athletic Conference.

“The search committee quickly recognized (Smith’s) passion for student-athlete development and recruiting,” Harper, formerly an assistant director of athletics at Fitchburg State, said. “Jimmy’s experience as a student-athlete and a coach translates well into our baseball community, and the Raider baseball team is energized for the new era of Rivier baseball.”

The Raiders are coming off a 5-26 season. Smith brings a winning background to the program.

As a player at Wheaton, he earned first-team All-NEWMAC honors as a senior and helped the Lyons to two conference titles. While coaching his college alma mater, the Lyons won a pair of NEWMAC crowns, made four NCAA regional appearances, captured two regional championships and advanced to the College World Series twice.

Podbelski, in his 26th year at Wheaton, ranks seventh in winning percentage (.707) among active NCAA Division 3 coaches.

“I’m very fortunate for the opportunity Coach Podbelski gave me as a player and letting me stick around for six years after and develop into the coach that I am now,” Smith said. “He’s been my biggest influence. The way he handles everything on and off the field, he taught me a long and helped me grow into the coach that I am.”

Frozen Fenway for these Crusaders

The Holy Cross women’s ice hockey team will face Boston University in January at Fenway Park as part of Frozen Fenway 2023.

Hockey East foes HC and BU will be part of a women’s college hockey doubleheader on a date to be determined. Teams for the other game will be announced soon.

“It’s fantastic,” Holy Cross coach Katie Lachapelle said. “It’s just a great opportunity. Our whole team is fired up.”

Frozen Fenway 2023 will also include a men’s college hockey doubleheader featuring Northeastern vs. UConn and UMass vs. Boston College on Jan. 7.

The Boston Bruins host the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL Winter Classic at Fenway on Jan. 2.

The Holy Cross men’s ice hockey team played Bentley at Fenway Park during the 2013-14 season.

While Lachapelle was an assistant at BU, she attended a Terriers men’s game at Fenway.

“It was kind of neat,” she said. “We were sitting up top, and it was a great view. It was snowing just a little bit to have an even better effect.”

Head of the Class

• Holy Cross senior midfielder Jack Ostrosky of Holden and Wachusett Regional scored both goals in the Crusaders’ 2-1 win over Iona. He tied the game in the 31st minute and scored the winner in the 78th minute.

• Tufts junior Erin Duncan of Rutland and Holy Name High netted three goals to help the women’s soccer team to a pair of wins to start the season. She scored two goals, 12 minutes apart in the second of a 4-0 victory over Connecticut College, and a second-half goal in a 4-1 win over Emerson.

• Pace freshmen Katelyn Fairhurst of Grafton and Sydney Sims of Worcester and Notre Dame Academy each scored their first collegiate goals to help the Pace field hockey team to two wins in its first three games of 2022.

—Contact Jennifer Toland at jennifer.toland@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @JenTolandTG.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Mike Callahan steps aside as WPI's winningest baseball coach