When the Columbus East baseball head coaching position opened following the 2010 season, then-athletics director Bob Gaddis knew exactly the person for the job.
Jon Gratz, who had spent the previous four years as an assistant under Rick Dwenger, possessed all the qualities Gaddis was looking for in a head baseball coach. Nine years later, Gratz has the Olympians playing in the Class 4A state finals.
“When the job came open, he was without a doubt our top candidate for the position,” Gaddis said. “Since then, I’ve seen the program grow. He does a great job with being a solid, fundamental coach.”
Gratz will lead East into its first-ever state title game appearance. The Class 4A No. 3 Olympians (25-4) will face Hamilton Southeastern (22-8) at around 8:30 p.m. Monday at Victory Field in Indianapolis.
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A native of North Manchester, Gratz played both football and baseball at DePauw University. He was first baseman and designated hitter for the baseball team.
“I started coaching a 14U team when I was in college and really enjoyed it and kind of decided that’s what I wanted to do — be a teacher and also coach,” Gratz said.
After graduating from DePauw, Gratz landed a job as a math teacher and assistant football and baseball coach at East.
“We were really fortunate to get him,” Gaddis said. “He came out of DePauw University first of all as a math teacher, which, it’s sometimes hard to find teachers who are also wanting to coach. Jon filled a void for us in that we happened to have football and baseball open the same year we had that math job. You could tell he had a great enthusiasm for being a teacher-coach. When I hired him, he said he eventually wanted to become a head baseball coach.”
Gratz got that chance four years later. In the meantime, he met his wife Kathleen, who was hired at East as an athletic trainer at the same time Jon was hired as a teacher and coach.
Jon gave up coaching football after the 2012 season, but he stuck with baseball. His coaching staff includes varsity assistants John Major and former Hauser coach Jerry Schoen, pitching coach Andrew Golinvaux, junior varsity coach Nathen Swafford and JV assistant Gene Wise.
“He’s built a solid baseball staff,” Gaddis said. “They’re real baseball guys, and they have a passion for the game. They do a lot of things to try to make the facilities competitive. I know Jon was instrumental in updating our batting cages outside and inside. Those are the things you have to do to be competitive in baseball. He’s been a real leader in that area.”
Gaddis said Gratz also does a good job of being involved in the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association and attending clinics.
“At the same time, he’s a tremendous teacher,” Gaddis said. “He teaches a lot of different levels of math, and he’s well thought of in the math department.”
Since taking over the baseball program in 2011, Gratz had some quality teams and players. In 2014, the Olympians won their first Hoosier Hills Conference title since 2001.
Last year, East won its first sectional championship since 1999. Then this year, the Olympians broke through with their first regional crown since 1993 and their first semistate title since 1989.
“We’ve had some great players in the past come through here,” Gratz said. “We have some great players now. That’s the big thing. We have some great players, great assistant coaches. In baseball, you need a little bit of luck. Sometimes, you get good luck; sometimes, you get bad luck. You have to have some good luck to make it out of the sectional and make it out of the regional.”
Gratz, who has a career 148-88 record, said a turning point in the program came two or three years ago when he began letting the players take more ownership in things, kind of being a little more hands off and giving the players more responsibility both on and off the field.
“I was reading some military books about how they instilled centralized command,” Gratz said. “We have a leadership council, and now, they’re in charge of the team at practice and workouts and holding each other accountable. I think that’s been kind of a turning point in our program. They’ve taken that leadership.””
This year’s leadership council includes the team’s three seniors — Julian Greenwell, Nash Murphy and Jonah Wichman — along with juniors Cole Gilley and Dalton Back and sophomore Parker Harrison for the varsity and sophomore Jose Martinez and freshmen Will Rieckers and Ty Uphaus for the JV.
Those players, along with Gratz and the coaching staff, have led East to within one win of its first state title.
“I think it’s great for the program, great for these kids first and foremost,” Gratz said. “They’re the ones that are putting in the work, they’re the ones that are out there playing and getting the job done. I’m just really happy for all those guys that have been busting their tails for the last multiple years, and it’s finally paying off for them.”
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Name: Jon Gratz
Age: 36
High school: Manchester
College: DePauw
Occupation: Math teacher and head baseball coach at Columbus East
Family: Wife Kathleen, daughter Morgan (age 6) and son Michael (age 3)
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