Baseball: Geneva's Hahn steps down

Geneva baseball will have some big shoes to fill next spring.

Matt Hahn, the winningest coach in school history, announced earlier this season that it would be his last.

Hahn, in his 12th year as the head coach and 16th with the program, is 253-151 in his career including the team's 19 wins this season.

With one more victory the Vikings will have their 11th 20-win season in Hahn's 12 years.

"It's been unbelievable," Hahn said. "I'm proud of what we've been able to build."

Hahn let Geneva athletic director Jim Kafer know last year that he was getting close to stepping down, then made it official this spring on the Monday after the Vikings returned from their spring trip to Nashville.

Hahn said there's a number of reasons. At the top of the list are his sons Drew, a standout football player who will be a sophomore at Kaneland High School, and Ryan, who likes to golf and is going into sixth grade.

"It's cliché more time with family but it's true," Hahn said. "You make plans and a rainout changes that plan. Summer vacations. I'm OK with it, I've made peace with it."

Hahn will become the department chair for social studies at Geneva. He guided the Vikings to their first regional championship in 2007 and then won another in 2008, 2-1 over Bartlett on Geneva's home field that he said might be his best memory.

"I'm going to miss the kids, I'm going to miss the competition," said Hahn, who coached the Driscoll sophomore team two years before coming to Geneva. "The little things about it."

Hahn also is going to miss sharing so many of his experiences with his father Dennis who was at nearly every Geneva game these last 12 years.

"We would spend an hour after the game chit-chatting," Hahn said. "Obviously the kids are at the top of the list but that's got to be a close second of having him at all those games and unwavering support through all of it. All those years he coached too he understood, do I pull the pitcher, how to deal with a parent issue. He understood all that. I could always go to him and I could get somebody who is experienced and who gave unwavering support because that's what dads do."

Geneva interviewed two in-house candidates for the job Thursday but Hahn said no decision has been reached on his successor.

Tri-Cities baseball certainly will have a new look next spring without Hahn and Matt Holm at Batavia. Both will be missed.

"It's been a successful run," Hahn said. "This time next year it will really sink in when I'm not doing it."