Pat Antone has been a head baseball coach for only one season, but in that one season, he led Boone Grove to the 2018 Class 2A state championship.
In baseball terms, that’s batting 1.000.
Columbus North is hoping that production continues when Antone coaches the Bull Dogs next spring. The Chesterton native was named their new head coach earlier this week.
“I was itching to get another head coaching job, but I wanted it to be a place where it would be a good fit for me and the school, and Columbus North fit the bill,” Antone said. “They have good athletic programs here, and they have high standards, and I just felt like it would be a really good opportunity for me to come in as a head coach and implement my culture and build one of the elite baseball teams in the state of Indiana.”
After graduating from Chesterton in 2009, Antone played one year of baseball at Glen Oaks Community College in Michigan. He then transferred to Valparaiso and had a preferred walk-on spot, but opted to begin his coaching career instead.
“It was a tough decision at the time, but looking back, it was a good decision, because I wouldn’t have learned as much as I did,” Antone said.
Antone coached at Andrean from 2011-13. He then student taught at Valparaiso High School and coached there in the spring of 2014.
The next year, Antone taught at St. Patrick’s Elementary and Middle School in Chesterton and was assistant at Chesterton High School. Then, a physical education and weight training position opened up at Andrean in the fall of 2015 and he returned there as a teacher and assistant coach through the spring of 2017.
That fall, Antone took the head coaching job at Boone Grove and taught at its alternative school. He led the Wolves to a 22-5 record in 2018, and a 5-4 win against Southridge 5-4 in the 2A state title game.
“It was a tremendous year, and it started in the fall,” Antone said. “We had a middle school team that played in the fall and won the conference tournament. We had a great offseason in the weight room and our hitting and pitching development and implementation of our culture, and we were able to continue to develop and progress as the season went on.”
Following that season, Antone’s wife Alyssa got a job in Greenwood, so he took an assistant coaching job at Westfield for the 2019 season. He would have been there again in 2020, but that season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the meantime, Antone and Andrean head coach Dave Pishkur were looking to open a training facility in northwest Indiana, and Antone was set to return as his assistant at Andrean. The money for the facility fell through, but Antone traveled to the school in Gary twice a week this spring for practices and games.
“It was tough, but I had already made that commitment and didn’t want to break it,” Antone said.
Antone will teach special education at North. Pat and Alyssa, who have a two-month-old son Joseph, are looking to move to Columbus area as soon as possible.
Pat is holding an introductory player/parent meeting at 6 p.m. today in North’s LGI room. He plans to talk about the culture he plans to instill.
“The first thing is to define what it is, and that is the beliefs that drive the behaviors that produce the results and outcomes we have and experience as a team and program,” he said.
Antone’s three pillars of his culture are competitive excellence, which he defines as “a burning desire to win and perform at an elite level,” focused energy, which he defines as “putting all your concentration and effort into doing the necessary work in the right way at the right time” and agape love, which he defines as “unconditional love that is others-oriented. It’s not based on feeling or shared interest, but it’s uncommon commitment.”
“Based on those core values and beliefs, we’re going to behave in ways that are going to produce the outcomes that we’re looking to have and perform at an elite level,” Antone said.
Antone replaces Ben McDaniel, who led the Bull Dogs to one of their best seasons in school history this spring. North won Conference Indiana and sectional titles and spent most of the season ranked No. 1 in the state in Class 4A.
Nine seniors, including six starters, are gone from that team, but Antone sees the cupboard as far from bare.
“I’ve done my research and talked to other coaches and people and looked on PBR, and I know they have a lot of talent coming back,” Antone said. “I always say, ‘We’re already in the sectional. We could lose every game we play — which we’re not going to do — but we’re in the sectional, and we have a chance to win the state championship.’ Our goal right now is to win the 2022 4A state championship.”
