Carson High baseball coach steps down

Following a legend means that one has to continually feed the monster that was created. And while Steve Cook was successful by almost any standard as Carson High's baseball coach, there's no denying the high expectations of the program.

After four years as the program's head coach, Cook is stepping down from the position. Cook said he plans to turn in his resignation today.

Cook said he's reluctantly resigning, but said that the decision is mutual between himself and the school's administration.

"It's not really my choice," Cook said. But Cook also said, "I'm stepping down because it was in the best interest of the program."

Two logical choices to replace Cook would be John Valley and Scott Albin, who both served as assistants under Cook. Valley has been a longtime assistant at Carson, serving under Cook and McNutt.

Cook endorsed both as being qualified to take over for him, but Valley said he wasn't interested.

Valley said he's not interested since his son, Brett, is going to be a senior on next year's team and that he planned to step away from the program after next season anyway. "I don't think I'm going to put my hat in the ring so to speak," Valley said.

Albin didn't return a call to his cell phone late Wednesday night.

Cook, a 1994 CHS graduate, was also a part of the Carson program as a player and assistant before becoming head coach. Stepping down hasn't been as emotional as he thought it would be, Cook said.

"Actually it hasn't been hard," he said. "I've been hanging out with the kids." But Cook did admit, "I'm a little hurt and disappointed."

But Cook also stressed he enjoyed his time as coach. "My time here was fantastic," Cook said. "Everybody was great to me."

Cook's teams won more than 20 games and made the Northern 4A playoffs all four years he coached. In 2006 and 2007, Carson finished third in zone. The Senators also currently have three players in the University of Nevada program in Aaron Henry, Logan Parsley and Tony Fagan.

But Cook failed to lead Carson to a zone title or an NIAA 4A State appearance, which in reality was the standard that was set by McNutt and Cook said he understood that. Cook also said that McNutt was as helpful as he could be. "Coach McNutt made it easy on me," Cook said. "He went out of his way."

And Cook knew the expectations. "That's the bar that's set for the baseball program at Carson High," said Cook about zone titles and state appearances. "That's the watermark. They (the players) understood the tradition of putting the Carson uniform on."

In addition, Cook said, "I was hoping to put up the same numbers he (McNutt) did." But it wasn't meant to be, although Cook said he still believed the program was successful under his direction "as far as wins and losses.

"Looking back on it there isn't a lot of things that I would have done differently. We did a good job as a staff. I had a lot of fun. I did what I had to do to get the kids ready."

Cook also admitted he's not sure what's next. "This is the first time in my life that I haven't had baseball."

"I have no idea what I'm go to do," Cook also said about his immediate plans. "Probably work on my golf game. "There's a lot of things. I wouldn't mind coaching again in the future."