Wheaton Baseball Coach Heading to Blair

As Eric Zolkiewicz stood in the front of a Blair High School classroom in early June, addressing his new team for the first time, he had only a few things on his mind. 

“I just wanted to introduce myself to them, tell them what they can expect from me and what I expected from them,” Zolkiewicz said. 

Zolkiewicz was hired as the Blazers’ new baseball coach in late May, replacing John MacDonald, who had served as Blair’s varsity head coach since 1991, winning 175 games during that span. 

Prior to the hire, Zolkiewicz had spent six seasons as the at , where he had previously guided the softball team for seven years. 

Blair finished this past season 13-8, posting its first winning record since 2005. 

MacDonald, who played a large role in Zolkiewicz’s hire, is confident the new coach can help the Blazers maintain a similar high level of play. 

“It was just time for me to step aside and for someone else to come in and take over,” MacDonald said. “But I wanted to make sure, that if I was going to go, that I got somebody in there that would do a good job, and I think Eric’s the right guy. I have all the confidence in the world he’ll do a good job.” 

MacDonald had contacted Zolkiewicz early in the spring about the job, and the two traded emails periodically throughout baseball season before Zolkiewicz was finally selected as Blair’s new head coach. MacDonald described Zolkiewicz as having been on a short list of candidates for the job. 

Yet, although he described Blair as a “great opportunity,” the decision to give up coaching baseball at Wheaton wasn’t easy for Zolkiewicz, who says he mulled over the decision for a few weeks before officially applying for the Blair job in May. 

He will, however, continue to teach social studies at Wheaton as well as continue to serve as an assistant coach for the football team. 

“It’s a very nice situation for me,” Zolkiewicz said of becoming the new head coach at Blair. “It was tough to leave Wheaton, though. I had a great group of kids that worked really hard and did whatever I asked them. So it wasn’t an easy decision for me, but it just seemed like the right time and a really great opportunity.” 

And now, Zolkiewicz hopes to help the Blazers follow up their strong 2011 season. 

Blair’s players are already in the midst of summer league baseball, playing two to three games per week, and will also take part in fall league baseball. Zolkiewicz says, on top of that, that he would like to organize a strength and conditioning program for his players that will begin in the fall and carry all the way into the beginning of baseball season in March. 

“I just want to be as successful as possible,” Zolkiewicz said. “I don’t have any win total, or anything like that, in mind. I’m just looking forward to really getting into the job and hitting the ground running so that we can have a successful season. It’s a really good group of kids and I’m really excited to work with them.”