Sep 18, 2014 4 min read

Scott Van Sickle arrived at Waynesburg University in the fall of 1997. Before transferring to California University one year later, the freshman was on the Yellow Jackets’ baseball team that won the Presidents’ Athletic Conference title that spring.

Van Sickle loved the college campus nestled in the small Greene County town. He went on to have a successful career as a middle infielder for the Vulcans, but those memories of Waynesburg were never far away.

For the first time in 17 years, Van Sickle will wear an orange and black uniform this spring. After four years as head baseball coach at Carmichaels, the Albert Gallatin High School graduate is joining Mike Humiston’s staff as an assistant coach. Humiston was an assistant coach when Van Sickle was a freshman at Waynesburg.

Van Sickle submitted his resignation as Carmichaels’ coach at Thursday night’s school board meeting.

“(Mike’s) an awesome guy. I loved him as a coach and when he brought this to my attention, I had to jump at it,” Van Sickle said. “The one year I was there, I liked it so much.”

For the past eight years, Van Sickle helped develop successful players at Carmichaels. As head coach for the past four years, Van Sickle led the Mikes to 49 wins and a playoff appearance in each of those years. Carmichaels was the WPIAL runner-up and reached the PIAA quarterfinals last season.

During Van Sickle’s four seasons as assistant coach to Dave Bates, Carmichaels made the playoffs each season and won two WPIAL titles (2005, 2008).

Walking away was not an easy decision.

“I’ll miss the group of kids. You always have someone new you are trying to teach something to,” Van Sickle said. “They like that program, they knew what to expect when they went to Carmichaels, and when they played for me, what they are getting. I’m not a guy who is going to hide anything and I was a player’s coach. That’s something I’m going to miss.”

Van Sickle lives in Waynesburg with his wife, who is pursuing her Ph.D at the university, and two sons.

Humiston, who has been the Yellow Jackets’ head coach since 2005, was in his first year as an assistant coach at Waynesburg when Van Sickle was a freshman. The two developed a deep respect for one another so when a vacancy opened on Humiston’s staff this summer, he immediately thought of his former player.

“He’s a guy I think can talk to the players on their level,” Humiston said. “He comes from a successful program at Carmichaels, and I think one of the big things he’ll be able to help us with is recruiting. Having been their coach over there for four years, he knows the local talent. He’s a guy who grew up here, so I think it will be a win-win for us.”

Van Sickle agrees. As a high school coach, he has witnessed many college-ready baseball players miss opportunities because schools often look closer to Pittsburgh for talent. As Waynesburg’s infield and hitting coach, he plans on bringing more local faces to the university.

“I really want to go out and grab kids who are from this area, because I don’t think they are recruited hard enough,” Van Sickle said. “Schools don’t come around here. They look to Pittsburgh or bigger areas. I’d like for Waynesburg to be that special place for the local kids and to start beating other teams. There are a lot of good players around here.”

Since Van Sickle’s arrival at Carmichaels, the Mikes have fielded strong teams that expected to make the playoffs. He is looking to bring that type of expectation to the college level.

But first, Van Sickle will have to recover from surgery after tearing the labrum in his shoulder.

“After he accepted the job, he said to me, ‘Oh, by the way, I’m having surgery and can’t throw batting practice until next year,'” Humiston said with a laugh. “Oh, that’s good to know. Once that’s healed and he’s ready to go, he’s going to be throwing a lot of batting practice for us.”

The McGuffey School Board approved the hiring of Scott Henson as the school’s new baseball coach Thursday night by a vote of 9-0.

If the name sounds familiar to Highlanders’ fans, it should. Henson has previously been the head coach at Ringgold, Canon-McMillan and Trinity, spending the past three seasons with the Hillers.

He was not retained following the 2014 season.

Henson replaces Tim Kamnikar, who led the Highlanders to a 3-15 record last season.