Recently, the West Branch community was caught off guard when Mr. David Learish announced his resignation as head coach of West Branch’s Baseball team. He revealed the news through the West Branch Baseball Facebook page, informing the community that he had sent a resignation letter to the school board.
Mr. Learish has coached baseball since 1993. After playing the sport in college, Mr. Learish had a coaching role at Geneva College and Clearfield High School. Mr. Learish has also coached in the Clearfield Community and instructed youth baseball players, including his son.
Mr. Learish said he would miss being the head coach of the West Branch program, as he loved the challenge of being the head coach, preparing athletes, organizing rosters and events, and competing. Despite his passion, he had to make the difficult choice to let someone else fill this role for him. As he stated in his Facebook post, his “health needed this, among other personal reasons.”
The greatest joy he has had in coaching was building relationships with the athletes and when athletes would perform the skills they had worked hard to learn. Mr. Learish hopes there will be a smooth transition with the new head coach. He expressed that he still wants to help with baseball in a role that could be less intense than a head coaching position. Mr. Learish thanks his fellow coaches for working so hard to help bring the team back to a competitive level. He would like to thank the athletes for working hard and going the extra mile to improve. Finally, he is grateful for those in the Warrior Nation who believed in the team.
