Crossroads Selects Smiley To Coach Baseball Team

By Mitch Chortkoff

Ruben Smiley, an assistant baseball coach at Crossroads last season, has been chosen to succeed Rudy Valentino as head coach.

Valentino has gone to St. Bernard High, where he is an assistant coach.

``It should be an interesting season,'' said Smiley. ``We have 12 seniors.''

When Valentino left it ended a stormy few years. He appeared to lose his job once, regained it when he received surprising support from parents who previously thought he was too hard on the youngsters, then lasted just one more season. In the eyes of some observers the Crossroads team underachieved last season, failing to make the playoffs.

Crossroads has a proud baseball tradition. Athletic Director Chuck Ice enjoyed much success when he was the head coach. The standards are high.

Last season I attended some Crossroads games at Clover Park. The program seemed to be under severe scrutiny from parents of players. Smiley was the batting coach then and the Roadrunners went through a stretch where they were in a collective hitting slump. I was impressed with his manner in trying to improve the situation.

``We had some rainouts,'' Valentino said. ``When we resumed playing we didn't hit very well. It took some time to come out of it.''

The situation improved dramatically in a 33-0 victory over one outmanned league opponent. But there were some key defeats too.

Smiley, who played minor league baseball for several years and has done some pro baseball scouting, now gets the chance to build a winner. The scrutiny will continue. It's not on a level like USC football or UCLA basketball, where standards are unreasonably high, but it's something like that on the prep level. Winning is expected.

I saw Smiley at a recent Crossroads basketball game where he was the official timer. He seemed anxious to get going, and it won't be long now as the new year has arrived.