Ryan Dequin has accepted Christopher High School’s baseball head
coaching position, giving the Cougars a local product to lead the
club onto the diamond next spring.
The 26-year-old Dequin, a 2001 graduate of Gilroy High and
currently a second-year assistant coach for the Gavilan baseball
team, said he is excited to be building a program from the ground
up, as CHS is set to open its doors in the fall.
GILROY – Ryan Dequin has accepted Christopher High School’s baseball head coaching position, giving the Cougars a local product to lead the club onto the diamond next spring.
The 26-year-old Dequin, a 2001 graduate of Gilroy High and currently a second-year assistant coach for the Gavilan baseball team, said he is excited to be building a program from the ground up, as CHS is set to open its doors in the fall.
“You gotta set up a foundation that you can build on in the coming years,” Dequin said, adding that he would “not only teach the kids the game, but how to apply that to academics and life in general.”
Dequin was an all-Monterey Bay Athletic League outfielder during his senior year at GHS before playing college ball for San Jose City, transferring to Kentucky and then transferring again to finish his collegiate career at Montreat, a Christian liberal arts school in North Carolina.
CHS Athletic Director Darren Yafai called Dequin the best amongst many qualified candidates for the job.
“He was the kind of kid you could tell would be a great coach as a player in high school,” Yafai said.
Gilroy High baseball coach Clint Wheeler, who coached Dequin in high school and will now serve as his protege’s in-town rival, said he believes Dequin has what it takes to be successful.
“Sure, there’s going to be a rivalry, but he and I are very good friends now,” Wheeler said, adding it will be “kind of like playing your little brother.”
In that case, games between the two schools could be called a sibling rivalry.
“As far as becoming rivals, the student always wants to show up the teacher, but I’m gonna look to him for some guidance still,” Dequin said.
“He’s told me that anything need I can go to him. It’s going to be competitive when we play, but he’s always going to be a good friend, a good buddy.”
