After four years as an assistant coach at Kimball Union Academy, Chad Sturgeon has the opportunity to be a head coach. This came to fruition after Wildcats' 13-year head coach Mike Van Dolah departed the Meriden, N.H., school after leaving for Westminster School to work in the science department and as an assistant coach.
Sturgeon has held stints as an assistant coach at Oviedo High School (Fla.), Mizuno Aces National Team (Del.), Old Dominion Hitters Showcase Team (Va.), and most recently with the Upper Valley Nighthawks (Vt.) of the NECBL. Before entering the coaching field, Sturgeon was a righty pitcher at Delaware State University.
Now at KUA, Sturgeon's ambition is to instill some of his own philosophies. He says having worked under Van Dolah, much was learned, citing how organized Van Dolah was, particularly with practice plans and time management on the field.
"The amount of organization and detail Mike put into practice and games is something that I immediately started to copy and implement,'' said Sturgeon. "We would collaborate on what we wanted to work on, and he would have a perfect breakdown of time management and diagrams of how the practice would be set up before we got to practice. I still use him as a mentor when I have questions. I am very thankful to him and for our friendship. When I first came here, Coach Van Dolah welcomed me with open arms. We had open and honest conversations about where we wanted to take this program."
