Take a quick glance at the list of World Series winners over the past decade or so and you’ll notice a common thread.

Dave Robb, left, overlooks one of his players at the Duvernay Fieldhouse. Robb returned to the Okotoks Dawgs top team after copachign their junior squad last year.

Pitching, or more importantly, good pitching is the key to success. If you haven’t got it, you don’t win. Simple as ABC or 123.
That’s why when Dave Robb signed on to return as head coach of the Okotoks Dawgs summer collegiate team, his hands were full. The five-man starting rotation, which carried the Okotoks Dawgs to a Western Major League Baseball title last season, will feature three new faces in 2010.
“That’s going to be the biggest challenge I think,” said Robb of replacing the departing players.
The Dawgs may have to do without the services of ace Jeff Duda in 2010. Duda led the Dawgs with six wins and 82 strikeouts during the regular season. Jake Bottari, who started nine games and winning three, also won’t be back. Marc Wilson won four games last year and he also will not be returning.
Taking over the Dawgs is not like coaching a dying franchise such as the Pittsburgh Pirates, owners of 16 consecutive losing seasons in a row, where the only place to go is up. The Dawgs are three-time defending Western Major Baseball League champions and expectations are sky high.
“I think we have talked to enough coaches and talked to enough players that are interested in coming that I think winning will take care of itself,” said Robb, who was the Dawgs’ bench coach last season.
Brett Thomas, a former catcher who is expected to be the third base coach in 2010, said replacing three of five starters is a colossal task but with Robb’s extensive knowledge of the game, he should be up to the task.
“He has a laid back approach, but at the same time has an intensity to win,” said Thomas.
Robb said his best attributes as a coach are communication skills. With a bulging roster every summer, playing time can be at a premium, requiring a soft touch handling his charges.
“It’s communicating sometimes with kids that if they are not playing at that time that yes, we have the confidence, yes, we want to get them innings and we will work with them,” said Robb.
Building a new pitching staff from the ground up is not foreign territory to Robb. He spent 2006 coaching the Kelowna Falcons of the West Coast Collegiate League, a league where high turnover is routine.
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“They (the West Coast Collegiate League) don’t usually get the same players two years in a row even, let alone three,” said Robb.
Danny Britton-Foster, who had the best ERA last season, provides the Dawgs with a building block and is expected to fill one of the top rotation spots. Newcomer Billy Hurley, an aptly named right-hander from Wayne State University, will likely play a major role.
Hurley represented Ontario at the Canada Cup in 2007 and recorded a 5-1 record to go with a 1.23 ERA at Wayne State.
In 2004, Robb led the Dawgs to their first WMBL championship earning Coach of the Year honours in the process. Thomas said Robb is one of his favourite coaches and a huge asset to the organization.
“Being able to work with him is an honour,” said Thomas. “I absolutely believe everything he does and he has a certain way with coaching that is very rare.”
rnorthrop@okotoks.greatwest.ca

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