Home-grown assistants round out SK baseball coaching staff

When it came time for Jim Fairweather to hire his assistants for the upcoming baseball season, he didn’t have to look to far to find what he needed.

Former South Kitsap players Bill Segerman and Nick Kenyon will join Fairweather on the diamond this spring, trying to carry on the baseball tradition Elton Goodwin left behind with his retirement last year.

“They’re young and they’re excitable, and I get along with both of them,” Fairweather said. “So all those things kind of put them in there in a good light and made it pretty easy to hire them.”

Fairweather, who assisted Goodwin last year, was tabbed as his replacement back in November. Goodwin and his longtime assistant Don Smith retired after a 28-year stint at South.

But hiring from within the family, so to speak, was not a priority.

“You like that, because I was (hired from within), and I’m sure if you have your druthers, you’d like to keep doing that,” Fairweather said. “I was more concerned with getting people in here that know baseball, can deal with kids and be a part of a successful program. These guys were just a good fit.”

Segerman graduated from South in 1994, while Kenyon went through the program a few years later, graduating in 1999.

“Both of them have very solid baseball backgrounds,” Fairweather said. “Both, after they left here with great careers at South Kitsap, both went on to play college-level baseball.”

Segerman went on to a brief pro career with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays before calling it quits and becoming a coach. He was at North Mason last year.

“He’s pretty well traveled. He’s seen a lot and done a lot,” Fairweather said. “He knows what’s going on in baseball. Plus he’s been around and helped out with our summer team, so he’s more or less already made a commitment to what we’re doing.”

Kenyon played college ball at Washington State, and Fairweather likes the background that comes with him.

“He played PAC-10 baseball and played some of the best competition that there is,” Fairweather said. “He played against Stanford and Arizona State, perennial College World Series teams and had success against those kinds of teams.”

This will be Kenyon’s first coaching experience at the high school level.

“This is very cool for him,” Fairweather said. “He’s every excited about this and I would be too, if I got to open up like that.”

The trio will split time coaching the varsity, junior varsity and sophomore teams, but Fairweather has yet to work out all the details.

He’s just happy to have the process complete and two quality coaches at his side.

“They’re absolutely great choices,” Fairweather said. “They’re good people and that’s always key. I just wanted to make sure I had good people around there. There’s a lot of unknowns out there and it’s nice when you can grab some knowns. I’m pretty excited.”

But Fairweather knows there’s plenty of work still to be done as the season opener is just around the corner. The first day of practice is March 1 while the Wolves play their first game March 15 at home against Tahoma.

In addition to the baseball assistants, South Kitsap also filled assistant positions for the boys soccer team and girls fast pitch softball team.

Brian Davenport was hired to fill out soccer coach Eric Bergeson’s staff. This will be Davenport’s first coaching job as he recently graduated from the University of Puget Sound.

Angelique Coloson will join coach Kathy Ballew’s fastpitch team.

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