H.S. Baseball: Elyria hires 1997 graduate Ethan West as coach

Ethan West has deep ties to the Elyria High School baseball program. He didn't expect to be running it one day. West was approved Wednesday by the school board to be the coach, the school announced. He played for the Pioneers three decades ago and had been an assistant coach. "I'm an alum, and it's always special when an alum can come back home and really give back to the program that made that person," West said in the news release. "I'm a product of the Elyria High baseball program. "Thirty years ago, I graduated from Elyria High, and I never thought that 30 years later I'd be the head coach of the baseball program where I once played. It's a full-circle moment." West went to Cascade Elementary and Northwood Junior High before graduating from Elyria High in 1997. He played baseball at Lakeland Community College and eventually returned to the Pioneers. He joined the staff in 2023 under coach Jordan Connell. "Being a Pioneer is about creating a culture of being a proud Pioneer," West said. "You want these kids to get something out of the program outside of baseball. It's beyond baseball. We want to produce productive young men into society." He remembers what it was like when he was a player for a strong program. The Pioneers went 7-19, 0-14 in the Southwestern Conference in the spring. "Growing up, there was a standard that was already in place by the time I got to the baseball program," he said. "You just followed suit." Contact Scott Petrak at (440) 329-7253 or spetrak@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @scottpetrak on X.