There have been plenty of coaching openings for Quientin Poil to choose from over the years. A baseball junky who has both played and coached at the college level, none of the previous vacancies felt quite right.
Instead of giving the potential openings at least a tip of the cap, Poil let them pass by like a fading changeup out of the strike zone.
That is, of course, until early January, when Kentlake High’s Jason Evans officially announced his five-year run with the Falcons was over. Like a thigh-high fastball over the middle of the plate, this was an opportunity Poil couldn’t let slide by.
“I wanted it pretty bad,” admitted Poil, who had been an assistant baseball coach at perennial powerhouse Puyallup since 2007. “There have been other high school jobs to open up, but I liked being (an assistant).”
The job at Kentlake, however, was unlike any other Poil had stumbled across in recent years. The Falcons have qualified for the postseason in each of the last five years and enter the spring as one of the most dangerous teams in the South Puget Sound League North Division.
“They’re very talented,” said Poil, who played at Washington State University (1988-1989) and also was an assistant for the Cougars (1990-1991). “We have a lot of team speed, there’s good pitching, good defense … I think we’ll be able to pick it with any team in the league. And we have outfielders who can run. We’re two deep at each spot and four-to-six deep on the mound.
“I am liking where we’re at. I think we’re going to be good this year and in the future.”
And though the Falcons ooze talent, Poil still has some big shoes to fill in Evans, who guided Kentlake to its lone SPSL North title and a second-place finish at the Class 4A state tournament in 2008. In five years, Evans compiled an impressive 74-40 overall record and helped 19 Falcons move on to play at the college level.
That said, however, Poil is hardly an unfamiliar face on the prep baseball circuit. Along with assisting at Puyallup High the last four years, he also is a hitting and catching instructor at the Big League Edge in Auburn. In addition, Poil coaches the Puget Sound Roxx, an 18U Puyallup-based select team that he guided to a Babe Ruth World Series crown in 2009.
Now, however, his focus is on helping the Falcons return to the top of the North.
“My specific goal is that I want to win the North,” he said. “I want us to qualify for the playoffs, and I want us to beat our in-area schools – Tahoma, Kentridge, Kentwood and Kent-Meridian. Tahoma isn’t in Kent, but I consider an in-area school. That’s my goal, to win the city championship.”
Kentwood entered the season as the consensus favorite among league coaches, but a Kentlake uprising wouldn’t be a surprise. The Falcons return some of the league’s most talented players, including first-team outfielder Austin Pernell, a pair of aces in Sean Hartnett and Ryne Shelton along with slugging catcher Jake Ross (3 home runs) and slick-fielding infielder Ryan Archibald.
“There are definitely players here,” Poil said. “It’s obvious.”
As is the fact that the first-year coach finally landed the golden opportunity. The opportunity he’d been waiting for.
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