Taconic's Stannard Retires after 32 Seasons
PITTSFIELD, Mass. – When Kevin Stannard looks back on 32 years in a high school baseball dugout, the big games certainly come to mind.
But they are not necessarily the biggest thing.
“Before deciding to retire, I went back through the old statistics and looked at the names and I was looking at the players who have come through the program and how their lives turned out and what they’re doing now,” Stannard said Friday.
“They’re doing fantastic things with their lives. That’s obviously what I’m proudest of.”
There is a lot of reason to be proud after more than three decades leading the Taconic baseball program and a dozen with the school’s boys basketball team as a junior varsity and varsity coach.
This fall, Stannard decided that it was time to step aside from the program he led to three state championships in a five-year span from 2017 to 2021.
He won over 400 games with the green and gold and set a standard for excellence in the program.
“The one good thing out of the 31 years, was we only had two losing seasons,” Stannard noted (the 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic). “One was my first year, and the other was in 2002.
“I’m pretty proud of that, being able to make the tournament every year.”
He also points to some of the off-field experiences he has had with the Taconic program.
“I look back at the good times we had,” Stannard said. “[Former athletic director] Jimmy Abel setting up some trips to play games at Cooperstown or the Cape. Those are memories I remember. The kids got to blow off some steam and play some baseball and just be together.”
Those student-athletes, with Stannard at the help, had a remarkable run of success over the last decade, winning a Division 1 State Championship in 2017, going to the D3 state finals in 2018, winning D3 in 2019 and 2021 and going to a D3 state semifinal two seasons ago.
“2017, obviously, that will always be special being in Division 1,” he said. “That group was such a close-knit group, how well they got along together and played for each other.
“Probably two of the games I’ll remember are the state semi-final in 2017 against Wachusett, a 12-11 game, coming back to win in extra innings. And then, obviously, 2021, where we were at Wahconah Park, 5,000-plus people, to win the game like we did was just outstanding.”
In that state championship win, the first for any Berkshire County team coming out of the pandemic, Taconic scored 10 runs in the bottom of the sixth on the way to a 14-10, come-from-behind win to complete a perfect season in front of a huge crowd at the historic ballpark.
Stannard said the time has come to let someone else take over the Taconic program as it transitions to a new era.
“The direction the school is going, where it’s all vocational, the numbers [in the baseball program] are down and low, I figured now is a pretty good time to hand it off and let someone else take over,” he said. “Most of the kids that are playing baseball are headed to PHS in that direction.
“Our JV program, the last couple of years, the numbers have been down quite a bit. I’m not sure what the future holds for the program itself. Hopefully, it turns around.”
That said, Stannard has hope for the Thunder in the near term.
“There’s a good group of kids who are coming back, the O’Donnells, Quentin Christopher, obviously Eddie Ferris,” he said. “The cupboard is not completely bare, whoever takes over.”
Stannard will content himself with being a spectator – at least for the foreseeable future.
“I don’t know what’s next,” he said. “I haven’t had a spring off in 32 years. The COVID year gave me a little taste of it. Obviously, there are some projects around the house I’ll get to.
“I’ll catch a game here or there. My youngest nephew is at Pittsfield High. My oldest nephew is going to be a senior at Williams. So I’ll definitely see some of their games.”
Will he return to coaching someday?
“I’ll see how the year off goes,” Stannard said. “If I really miss it, maybe I’ll think about helping somebody out.”