By Danny Waldo
Sports in this day and age are a results-driven business, and unfortunately for former Bozeman Spikes manager, Lance Mackay, his results weren’t good enough, forcing the Bozeman Baseball Executive Board to make a mid-season coaching change.
Mackay was released of his duties on June 27th following a vote by the executive board that came after considering feedback garnered from parents and players that resulted from a mid-year survey on the program’s status.
According to Mark Johnson, committee chairman and father of a current Spikes player, “Information was gathered and the executive committee sat down as a whole and went through the (feedback). I would guess to say between emails, texts, phone calls and face-to-face conversations with players, parents and coaches, we probably had 20-some forms of feedback. We sat down and decided that the best for the Spikes organization was to cut our ties with Coach Mackay and finish out the season with our current coaching staff.”
The Spikes have been struggling in the win column this season, owning a 9-25 record that includes 0-12 in conference, but according to Mackay, the team was making progress which is the goal of any developmental program such as the Spikes, who serve as a feeder to the Class AA Bucks. Added Mackay, “There’s not always a lot of returning players. It’s always a tough haul, but the team this year is as good as any team we’ve had. They’ve had some struggles along the way. I’m pretty happy with the overall performance of the Spikes.”
Bozeman Bucks manager Dave Legg appeared less than enthusiastic about the move, stating, “It was a decision that was made by the board,” he said. “It was not a decision that was backed by me in any way. Lance has done a great job in the program with the three years he’s been with us. If you take a look at our roster this year, you will find just about every single player that is on our roster had played with the Spikes with the exception of (shortstop) Bennett Hostetler. We had six players who played for the Spikes and Coach Mackay, all moved up to the Bucks this year and are contributors in a major way to the team. In that regard, he had done an exceptional job with those Spikes players moving up to the program.”
The Spikes have just a handful of games remaining in the 2016 season, and the board has made the decision to finish out the year with the current coaches on staff before opening the position up following the season.
