Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Sports like baseball and softball revolve around numbers.

Coaches in those sports have been relying on stats and percentages as part of their planning and game management for years.

Jim White was always impressing his players with his use of numbers.

“It’s amazing the stuff he remembers and the stats he knows,” former Solon standout Monika Bevans said of White. “He can list scores from games 20 years ago off the top of his head.”

In 23 years as a head softball coach at Clear Creek Amana and Solon White amassed his own impressive numbers.

White officially resigned as Solon softball coach last week with 995 wins, 17 state tournament appearances and seven state titles.

The numbers for White stand out as some of the best ever for a coach in any sport in state history.

Those numbers are not what stick in the memory of those that played for him.  

“We definitely won a lot of games because of Jim, he’s a great coach for sure and he made me a much better softball player,” Bevans said. “But I’m a better person because I played for him.”

Back to the numbers.

White turned Clear Creek Amana into one of the premier programs in the state, going 809-118 and winning six state titles in 18 seasons at CCA.

He came to Solon prior to the 2013 season and won 186 more games, claiming the 2015 Class 3A state title.

White posted a staggering career winning percentage of .868 and his seven state titles are the second most in state history.

None of those numbers get mentioned when former players are asked what they took from their time playing for White.

“Honestly, I can’t imagine where I’d be without him,” former Solon all-stater Ali Herdliska said. “He taught me a lot about much more than the game of softball. He taught me how to be a great teammate and leader and those are things I carry with me still.”

The 53-year-old White made mention of his plans to step away from his head coaching duties over the last year.

It became official last Thursday when he offered his resignation to Solon Athletic Director Zach Wigle.

White resigned following a 30-win season last summer and five wins shy of 1,000 but without regrets.

In June he was named the national softball coach of the year by the National High School Coaches Association.

“I’m every comfortable with the decision,” White said. “This was the plan, it was a five-year plan when I came here. It might not go exactly the way I imagine, I might go a little stir crazy but this has been the plan.”

White has always been one for following plans.

Players recount the emphasis that White put on the mental aspect of sports and the lessons that came with it.

Bevans, who played for White at both Clear Creek Amana and Solon and is now a sophomore at Kirkwood credits her time with White for helping her be success in college.

“One thing I learned from Jim is mentally where you need to be to be successful,” Bevans said. “He taught me so much not just softball wise but also life lessons. There is a lot that I learned from him.”

Herdliska said every possible scenario provided a possible teaching experience for White.

When the all-state third baseman broke her arm in a soccer match before her senior softball season she went to tell White the diagnosis in person.

His response was unforgettable.

“I will never forget the day that I broke my arm and I knocked on the door at his house and he said, ‘you know what this is great, this is going to be awesome you are going to learn so much this is going to be so helpful,’” Herdliska said. “I just looked at him and said ‘Jim I broke my arm.”

A few years later Herdliska found herself dealing with an injury as a player at South Dakota State and thought back to what White had told her in high school.

“I did learn so much from that experience, he turned me into a coach because he knew that was what I wanted to do,” Herdliska said. “I’ve gone through an injury in college and it’s helped so much.”

Despite his resignation White said he isn’t done coaching.

He plans to coach his sons, Brett is 12 and Brady is 10, baseball teams and is in the middle of coaching a rec league team for Brett this fall.

“To be honest it really feels the same,” White said. “Coaching is coaching. It’s not like I’m just going to stop coaching.

White hopes to continue to coach softball at Solon.  

His hope is that his wife Erin is his successor at Solon.

Erin coached the Spartans from 2007 to 2010, leading the Spartans to the 2A state title in 2007 and has been involved in the program for the past five years.

“We aren’t taking for granted that it will happen but that is the ideal situation,” White said. “She had to wait while I was coaching and I know she is excited to get back into being a head coach.”