South Kitsap baseball coach steps down after more than a decade with Wolves
South Kitsap's baseball program has reached the state championship game seven times in its history, claiming titles in 1983, 1996, 2003 and 2015.
The head coach responsible for guiding the Wolves to the most recent of those championships, Marcus Logue, is stepping down. Leading South Kitsap since 2013, Logue informed his coaching staff and players of his decision this week.
"Just kind of stepping away from all after-school responsibilities," said Logue, who had planned to be on the coaching staff for South Kitsap's football team this fall.
For Logue, who works at South Kitsap High School as a dean of students, the decision to leave coaching comes down to needing more time to support his family. With Logue and his wife Natalie both working full-time and being parents to two young children, it became apparent recently that responsibilities besides coaching needed to be prioritized.
"It's time to scale back and focus on supporting them each day after work," Logue said. "Obviously it's a very difficult decision, but I know in my heart it's the right decision for our kids and our family, despite how much I know I'm going to miss it."
Logue is stepping away with a career record of 136-82 across 10 seasons. When he took over the program 10 years ago, he was in a different phase of life. He began as a teacher at the high school and fatherhood wasn't part of the equation yet.
"Before we had kids, SK baseball was the heart and soul of our household," Logue said.
Logue's three most successful seasons were his first three campaigns in charge. His 2013 team went 21-6 and finished second behind Skyview in the Class 4A state tournament. The following season was almost a carbon copy: 22-6 record, runner-up finish at state (losing to an undefeated Puyallup team). Logue earned the Kitsap Sun coach of the year honor in 2014.
The breakthrough came in 2015 as the Wolves rode the stellar pitching of Mac McCarty (4A state player of the year) and Lucas Knowles (current Washington Nationals minor leaguer) to the 4A state title with an extra-innings victory over Newport of Bellevue.
Logue, who won a state title as a player at Port Townsend in 2004, said one of the keys to success for those early South Kitsap teams was creating a strong regular season schedule as a means of readying the Wolves for the playoffs.
"When I first took over, we'd play Puyallup and those teams in nonleague with the thought of, 'Hey, these are the the teams we're going to face if we make it into district, so you better know who the toughest opponents in the state are,'" Logue said.
Logue's South Kitsap teams were also known to be practice fiends who'd put in extra work before school and wouldn't want to leave the diamond at the end of the day.
"You have to have a good amount of talent that meets up and equals hard work," Logue said.
Leaving the door open to coaching in the future, Logue is heartened by the fact he'll still be working at the high school and can remain a fan of the Wolves from afar.
"I'm going to be at work every day and I'm going to see the guys in our program," Logue said. "Whoever takes over, I'll obviously support them."
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: South Kitsap baseball coach Marcus Logue resigns
