Dream job comes true for Grybash
The magnitude of an early-morning meeting Wednesday wasn't lost on Jeff Grybash.
Grybash got together with Buffalo Grove assistant principal for student activities Mark Schaetzlein.
It was good news for Grybash as the 1998 Fremd graduate was chosen as BG's new varsity baseball coach after this season. Grybash will replace John Wendell, who is retiring.
"One, I was shocked and two, I was humbled," said Grybash, who teaches English at BG and will also be the head freshman football coach in the fall. "I'm 28 years old and I'm sitting here and I couldn't really believe it.
"The biggest thing is I wanted to talk to John and say thanks for the opportunity because he trusted me."
Grybash was a volunteer assistant his first year at BG and moved up to a paid assistant's spot on last year's team that reached the Class AA Elite Eight. This year he is the head sophomore coach and also working with the varsity pitchers.
"I'm very happy," said Wendell, who is 390-293 with four Mid-Suburban League division and regional titles and seven 20-win seasons in 23 years. "He deserves it.
"He's worked his butt off and he's great with the kids and he's energetic. He's going to be good and continue on the tradition."
Said Schaetzlein: "Not only does he have tremendous knowledge of the game of baseball, but he knows how to communicate with the athletes. He brings an enthusiasm and passion kids are going to gravitate to."
Grybash played baseball and football at Fremd and Carthage College. He originally wanted to be a lawyer, but got bit by the coaching bug at Carthage.
Grybash's mom Nancy is a retired teacher and his dad Gerry, a Fremd graduate, pitched in college and coached Palatine's American Legion baseball team.
"I saw they (lawyers) worked 80 hours a week," Grybash said with a laugh. "So I decided to take less money and work 80 hours a week."
Grybash, whose older brother Dan is a minor-league pitcher, didn't get a lot of opportunities to pitch at Carthage. But Grybash used the time to learn as much he could from coaches Augie Schmidt and Jarvis Brown, who played with the Twins.
He worked for a year as a volunteer with Paul Belo at Palatine and coached for a year at Elgin before coming to BG. He also ran the summer-league team with recently named Elk Grove girls athletic director Brian Biernacki.
All of those experiences and working with Wendell, Norm Hillner and Joe Ryback on the BG varsity have Grybash ready to roll.
"The biggest thing I've always talked about with the teams I've coached," Grybash said, "is how are they going to react to when things aren't going your way and how are you going to react to challenges.
"You'll see guys playing hard and playing the game the right way - taking extra bases when they can and doing little things right."