BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
John Staples has been announced as the new Bradford High School baseball coach.
This time, he’s ready for the opportunity.
Staples, who’s spent a year at BHS as an assistant football coach and the girls flag football head coach, was actually hired for the job in the summer of 2018 before changing his mind less than a week later.
“I probably rushed into that situation way too quickly,” said Staples, who had been serving as a volunteer baseball coach at Baker County High School at that time.
When the position came open this time, Staples said he was “ready to make a run with it.”
“A lot of people question why I would take over a program that’s won 12 games in four years,” Staples said. “That’s why I took it over. I want to change the standard. I want to be a difference maker.”
Staples has 344 career wins. In 18 years as a head coach, he guided teams to a district championship 10 times and to the regional playoffs 15 times overall. Staples won a state championship at Arlington Country Day and is the winningest coach at Baker County. He’s also been a head coach or assistant coach at Cocoa, Eau Gallie, Merritt Island and P.K. Yonge and was the pitching coach for a Brevard Community College team that finished second in the nation in 1985.
After changing his mind about taking the Bradford job in 2018, Staples continued to work as a volunteer baseball coach at Baker County. However, he knew he would give that up eventually for the betterment of the program and Head Coach Jarrell Rodgers, who played for Staples.
“I needed to get out of the way so he could grow,” Staples said. “The baseball control freak in me took over at times. He needed to be handling those things instead of me.”
Staples came to BHS last year, working as an assistant coach on Head Football Coach Jamie Rodgers’ staff. Upon getting the baseball job, Staples said Rodgers asked him, “It’s just killing you to make one more good run (in baseball), isn’t it?”
“I’ve got another one left in me,” Staples said. “I plan on being here a while with this program.”
Staples will still be a part of the football staff, but he will move into the role of special-teams coordinator, which will allow him to get in the work he needs to get done during football practices and still have time in the day to devote to the baseball program.
“We’re going to go Monday through Wednesday in the fall. It’s going to make for some long days after football (practice) for me,” Staples said, adding, “The fall is going to be very critical to the success of our baseball program. We can’t wait until January to get things going.”
Wanting a chance to take over the baseball program did present Staples with a “tough, tough mental dilemma.” He was the coach of the girls flag football team, which put together an incredible season last year, going undefeated in the regular season, winning a district championship and outscoring opponents 567-53 in compiling a 16-1 record.
“Honestly, there are two state championships right around the corner for those girls,” Staples said. “If I wasn’t just a 100-percent baseball man, I never would’ve made that move. (Baseball has) been a huge part of my life. I started out in Rockledge little league. My dad got moved around quite a bit with Montgomery Ward. I played in a lot of different towns. My mom said she’s been in more ball parks than any lady in the southeast. Between me and my brothers, she never missed a game.”
Despite his lifelong involvement in the game and his coaching resume, Staples said he alone won’t be a difference maker for Bradford’s baseball program.
“With me taking it over, it doesn’t automatically make us a 20-win team,” he said. “There’s a process involved that’s been pretty successful in the past. I see no reason that it can’t be (successful) here.”
Having said that, Staples wants to turn the Tornadoes around immediately.
“I’m not here to build anything. I want to step in and start winning right now,” he said.
Then, in a reference to the movie “Major League,” Staples added, “As Lou Brown said, ‘I’m too old to go diving into lockers.’ We’ve got to get out and get after it right now.”
For Staples, the “process” includes a strong work ethic as well as sprinting on and off the field.
“Those are things that don’t take any talent,” he said.
The coach also wants his players to respect the game.
“I’m an old baseball purist,” Staples said. “I still believe in the old, corny stuff — wearing the uniform correctly and treating the game like it needs to be treated.”
Staples wants his players to exhibit “great field posture.” That means not doing things such as throwing helmets in anger or pouting when an error is made. He vows that BHS will have a “class program.”
The number-one goal for the Tornadoes is to make other teams beat them. Staples said that comes from playing solid defense and minimizing errors and having pitchers throw strikes.
“That’s all you can do,” Staples said. “If you get beat, you get beat. That happens in baseball, but let’s minimize giving games away.”
One member of Staples’ staff who knows him well is Johnny Elasik, a Starke native who played for Staples at Baker County. Elasik was a part of the Wildcats’ 25- and 20-win seasons his junior and senior seasons, with Baker advancing to the regional semifinals in 2009 and the regional finals in 2010.
“He understands what the expectations are,” Staples said of Elasik, who was named Baker County’s MVP his senior season. “That’s important to me. Knowing the expectations and having loyalty out of the coaching staff is what I’m looking for.”
Staples said he’d like to have the involvement of two people who are no strangers to BHS baseball, including former longtime head coach Mike Hartley. Staples remembers how tough an opponent Bradford was at that time.
“When I first got to Baker, Mike Hartley was the coach here,” Staples said. “That’s when (Bradford had) (Josh) Nicols and (Will) Hartley and (Michael) Blankenship and those guys. We had some wars with those guys.
“I want to get back to having wars with these other teams. I wouldn’t have taken the job if I didn’t feel like we could go in that direction.”
The new coach would also like to see Jeremiah Johnson — another longtime Bradford coach — become involved in some capacity.
“I’ve always thought a lot of Coach Johnson,” Staples said. “He’s a fixture in the baseball program around here.”
Staples has been involved in nothing but success since he arrived at Bradford. Aside from the flag football team’s accomplishments, he was part of a boys football program that went 12-2 and advanced to the state semifinals.
Now, he wants to do his part to help the baseball team reach those same heights.
“These kids in Bradford are winners,” Staples said. “We’ve just got to get the right pieces in place and understand the process and what we’ve got to do to get to where we want to go.”
