Record-setting coach built CCS powerhouse
As a favor to the administration at Carlmont High School in Belmont, Jim Liggett agreed to leave his baseball coaching position to take over a fledgling softball program for one year in 1976.
He stopped coaching softball 41 seasons later, and no one in California built a better program.
Mr. Liggett, who retired last season after a state-record 1,009 victories and eight Central Coast Section titles, died Sunday night from complications related to ALS. He was 76.
“There will never be anyone like him,” said Marco Giuliacci, who was an assistant coach for three years with Mr. Liggett before succeeding him this season. “He built that program from scratch into the premier program in the Bay Area.
“He was a very, very competitive man. But also a very nice man. He was very tough with the girls, but they all loved him. When my daughter” who played for Mr. Liggett “found out the news of his passing, she broke down and cried hysterically.”
A former Triple-A outfielder for the Baltimore Orioles, Mr. Liggett originally dreaded the thought of coaching underhand pitching and slap hitting. And the incessant chatter? Please.
But his perspective quickly changed.
“To be honest, I don’t miss the three-hour baseball games,” Mr. Liggett said in a 2003 interview. “I really enjoy (softball). It’s so much quicker. Plus, I’ve enjoyed working with the girls. They seem to be more receptive to coaching.”
That wasn’t the case in the beginning. His old-school approach didn’t fly.
“When I first started, some of the girls would cry every time I yelled at them,” Mr. Liggett said. “But that’s all changed. They know now that I’m not yelling at the individual person.”
Ashley Chinn always knew that. One of the CCS’s most accomplished players, Chinn — who went on to pitch four seasons at Stanford — was at Mr. Liggett’s 1,000th win last season. No other softball coach in California has more than 732 wins.
“The reason Coach Liggett had so much success is because he has a way of bringing out the best in his players,” Chinn told Prep2Prep writer Harold Abend at that milestone game. “He’s challenging, a jokester and he can be intimidating. But at the end of the day, he’s our No. 1 fan.”
Giuliacci, who didn’t know how long ago the ALS diagnosis was made, said Mr. Liggett had had trouble getting around while coaching the last couple of years.
But even with the disease, Mr. Liggett made it to every home game during Carlmont’s 26-3 season that concluded two weeks ago..
“He was actually a very soft-spoken man,” Giuliacci said. “Unless you did something wrong at the ball field. He’d definitely let you know about it. But mostly he made the girls laugh. He was very sarcastic and the girls loved that about him. He would do anything to help them out. He loved his girls.”
Services are pending.