Jack Monroe is the new softball coach at Glendale High School, but all of his players call him Coach Jack. He played baseball as a kid, and in 8th grade he had two major accidents six months apart. By the time he was healthy enough to play he had already developed other interests.
Coach Jack is originally from San Diego but moved to Los Angeles twenty-six years ago to pursue writing. Years later, he joined an adult softball team and has played with them for almost twenty years.
Coach Jack has been coaching softball for 15 years. He started off as a dad looking to spend time with his two daughters, but he then discovered he had a passion for coaching.
He transitioned from an amateur to a professional coach when he took a job coaching a 7/8 softball team at Polytechnic School in Pasadena. After three winning seasons and one league title, he became the head coach for the JV La Canada softball team. Coach Jack led that Spartans squad to two league titles in 3 seasons, and they were on their way to another when the pandemic hit.
When Coach Jack saw the job opening at Glendale High School, he quickly jumped at the chance. He has always wanted an opportunity to lead his own program and to coach varsity. He believes the Glendale softball team needs a lot of work to be done to compete at a higher level. He says the players have been showing up to their check-in meetings for softball and are keeping a positive attitude, which is the key to accomplish anything in life.
One of Coach Jack’s weaknesses, that he has been trying to work on, is his impatience. He knows what he wants and he wants it now. There is so much he wants to teach his players, and sometimes he says he can move too quickly and overwhelm them. Overall, he’s super excited to get on the field and get the team ready for the upcoming season.
His coaching philosophy is fairly simple: TEAM FIRST! He expects from coaches, players and even parents to put the needs of the team ahead of their own personal wants and goals. While he subscribes to the concept that “there is no I in team,” he reminds people that there is a “me”. A bunch of robots conforming to a coach’s system is not his idea of a team. A real team for him is a collection of unique individuals, with their own unique skills and personalities, coming together to accomplish a team goal.
Coach Jack considers one of his biggest strengths as a coach to be his ability to connect with the players on a personal level and to understand what motivates them and what limitations they put on themselves. His hope is that every player feels valued and empowered to step out of their comfort zone, make mistakes, learn, grow and develop into the best version of themselves.
As for what the softball season may look like this season, Coach Jack hopes a vaccine will be developed and we can put this all behind us. Until then, he thinks that masks will need to be worn and that other safety precautions will need to be in place.
In four years, Coach Jack would love to see Glendale High School competing for a CIF title. He would like to build a strong feeder program of younger players (full of future Nitros!), who will participate in Nitro camps and play for his fall ball teams. Ultimately, Coach Jack wants to build a winning culture at Glendale, that will be a source of pride for anyone involved with the program.
