Baseball: Lerner brushes up on filling some big shoes at Mundelein

No one wants to be that guy.

But ultimately, someone has to.

And at Mundelein, Randy Lerner is that guy.

In coaching, no coach is dying to be the guy who replaces Dean Smith at North Carolina, or Mike Ditka with the Chicago Bears, or Geno Auriemma with the Connecticut women's basketball team.

Following a legend and stepping into shoes that might be 10 sizes too big is never an enviable position for a new coach.

But, someone has to do it.

Someone had to become the new varsity baseball coach at Mundelein when Todd Parola decided to retire last spring after 23 seasons and 603 wins, for an average of 26 wins per season.

He was the longest tenured baseball coach in Lake County at the time.

Lerner was that someone, the someone who replaced the longest tenured baseball coach in Lake County, and he's about to embark on his first season with the Mustangs as the varsity head coach. For the last nine years, he's been Mundelein's sophomore coach.

"And I would have been Todd's sophomore coach for the next 20 years if he wanted to stay that long as the head varsity coach," Lerner said. "I was fine in that role. I loved coaching for Todd. But you kind of figured that at some point Todd would step away."

And now that that's happened, Lerner has been given the keys to the castle, a program that has won at least 20 games in 19 of the last 20 seasons, and has had multiple 30-win seasons and has won multiple conference championships along the way.

Last season alone under Parola, the Mustangs won 33 games and advanced to the supersectional. Just two years ago, Mundelein was in the Class 4A state championship game.

Talk about some big shoes, clown-sized shoes rather.

"These are definitely big shoes to fill," Lerner said. "But honestly, I feel a bigger sense of responsibility than a sense of panic. I feel like the person who needed to step into shoes like this needed to be a person who really understands the level of success that Todd built at Mundelein and be ready to keep the program at that level.

"I was ready to step into that role. I am dedicated to keeping that tradition going."

Lerner, now in his 12th year in the program overall, began his tenure with Parola as a volunteer coach while he did his student teaching at Mundelein in 2006.

Now 35 and the father of two young daughters, Lerner, a graduate of University of Illinois, got his first full-time job a year later in 2007. Mundelein had a full-time position open and Lerner snapped it up. A baseball junkie and a lifelong player who finished his career as a standout pitcher and middle infielder at Wheeling, he couldn't wait to learn from Parola.

"One of the biggest things I learned from Todd is that to have the most success, we didn't necessarily have to be the most talented, but preparedness was the key," Lerner said. "Todd was always going to have a team that was the most prepared. And it starts at the freshman level with routines and every team at every level practicing the same way and using the same vocabulary and terminology and points of emphasis."

Lerner doesn't plan to change much of that either. If it ain't broke...

In fact, Lerner still talks to Parola every day, about all things baseball and coaching.

Parola has not retired yet from teaching, so he is still on campus at Mundelein. He has tried to walk a fine line between being around to support Lerner but being far enough away not to cast a shadow.

"Todd has been great, he's been there for me every step of the way," Lerner said. "There are so many things that I'm doing for the first time that are so routine for him. He's helped me with all kinds of questions I've had, and he's been a great support.

"It's been nice to have a guy like him in your corner rooting for you, helping you fill those big shoes."

pbabcock@dailyherald.com

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