When Ryan Shawley played baseball for Latrobe, he was a calming voice in the dugout and an animated, rah-rah teammate on the field.

Maybe that’s why he gravitated to coaching.

It seemed like a natural progression, wearing a hard helmet inside the third-base box and waving runners around, or advising would-be base-stealers at first.

Or, simply offering encouragement to a pitcher or hitter.

“Being able to have a positive impact on the players I am coaching means the world to me,” Shawley said.

Suddenly, just a year out of college, he is climbing the coaching ladder.

Shawley recently was named as an assistant coach at Gardner-Webb, a Division I program in Boiling Springs, N.C. He was an assistant for a year at Keiser, an NAIA program in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. There, he worked with pitchers.

A four-year player at Chatham, he pitched and played shortstop, third and first base.

He graduated in 2021.

Shawley finished as the program’s all-time leader in career starts and in the top five in program history in wins, strikeouts and innings pitched. He also batted .306 as a senior in 2021.

“I believe that I have always had coaching potential, but once I got offered the Keiser job and then had the opportunity to go coach in the Northwoods League, it all started becoming real that I have a real good shot at making this my career,” he said. “Everyone in our world today should be trying to move up the ranks whether it’s at your job or in school. Coaching is very similar and, as someone who is as competitive as I am, it is almost like a challenge to get to the next level.

“Moving up the ranks in college baseball can be very difficult, so I’m very fortunate to have this opportunity.”

His duties at Gardner-Webb will be varied and all wrapped into his title: head development team coach.

Shawley joins James Marshall, a former Oregon State coach, on the Runnin’ Bulldogs staff.

“We are excited to welcome Ryan and James to the Gardner-Webb baseball family,” head coach Jim Chester said. “These two young men will make our program better. Their professionalism and desire to be successful in our industry is going to pay dividends.”

Shawley said he is in debt to a number of coaches from whom he has learned and developed under.

“I have had many coaches throughout my playing career tell me that I would make a great coach some day, and I think that’s when it really started to get my mind going that I want to be a coach,” he said. “Coach Jason Bush really gave me my first shot at coaching with the Latrobe Jethawks (American Legion team), and ever since then, I have really fell in love with coaching.”

Matt Basciano, the coach at Latrobe, also impacted Shawley.

The 2017 Wildcats won WPIAL and PIAA Class 5A championships and sent a number of players off to college and pro careers.

Basciano said he knew Shawley would be a good college player but also saw coaching potential.

“Shawley’s a great coach, and so is Jim Chester,” Basciano said. “I always thought (Shawley) would be a coach — a great coach. I really hoped he would come back and coach here. I’m glad he’s not, because he is doing bigger things.”

Two standouts from the ’17 team are playing in the minor leagues. Outfielder Zach Kokoska was drafted in 2021 by the Colorado Rockies and is playing well in Single-A with the Fresno Grizzlies.

Pitcher Jared Kollar, meanwhile, recently signed a free-agent deal with the San Diego Padres and is set to begin his pro career in rookie ball.

But it’s not all about “Shawls,” “Koko” and “Jerry.”

Griffin Clark and Matt Henderson also are coaching in the Latrobe-Derry Teener League. Clark also is an assistant at Ligonier Valley.

“As I always say, they were the hardest-working and most coachable group,” Basciano said of his still-active baseball men. “It’s no surprise that they are successful in everything they have done since, from school, jobs, coaching to signing major-league contracts. Their hard work and them being so coachable has definitely shown in their life beyond that magical 2017 year.”

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)