The Sac-Joaquin Section on Tuesday, Jan. 29 announced its latest group of Model Coaches and Escalon High School varsity baseball coach Greg Largent is among this year’s honorees.
The Section named, in alphabetical order, Maureen Barnett (Rio Americano), Greg Largent (Escalon), Terry Logue (Bear River), Jill McPherson (Ripon), Marcy Tarr (Marysville) and Rick Wanlin (Rosemont) as the recipients of the 2018-19 Sac-Joaquin Section Model Coach honors.
Each member school in the Sac-Joaquin Section can nominate one male and one female coach from its staff. Those names then went to the leagues, and each league was then directed to select one male and one female coach and send those names to the Section office for consideration.
At Escalon, Largent has been involved in coaching for more than two decades.
He has been Escalon’s varsity baseball coach since 2005; he’s seen his teams win 10 Trans-Valley League titles, three Section championships and two mythical state titles. He was a CalHiSports State Small School Baseball Coach of the Year in 2012.
He was the varsity softball coach from 1995-2005, where his teams won three league titles.
He’s the director and co-founder of the Toni Largent Memorial Golf Tournament, which provides scholarships for Escalon High students.
“Greg is committed to teaching his athletes about trustworthiness, respect, responsibility and good citizenship,” said Escalon Unified School District Superintendent Ron Costa. “He not only teaches these expectations to his athletes, he reinforces them by setting an excellent example. He is a true Model Coach.”
Largent is the third coach from Escalon High to receive such an honor. Past recipients were Mark Loureiro in 2009-10 and Rusty Fachner in 2013-14.
This year’s six winners represent six different high schools, four leagues, four of the seven divisions and both halves of the Section.
To date, 110 coaches have been honored from 71 different schools.
The award, honoring coaches who are positive role models within their schools and the community at large, is being given for the 18th year. Each of the six model coaches will receive a plaque and a lifetime Sac-Joaquin Section pass at an awards breakfast on Tuesday, April 30, 2019 in Lodi.
CIF Sac-Joaquin Section oversees high school athletics for 198 schools and 225,000 students. Its geographic boundaries stretch from Merced in the south, Grass Valley in the North, Fairfield to the west and the Nevada state line to the east. The Section is the second largest of California’s 10 athletic sections.
