Reid excited to take over as coach of Lords

By Chris Jones/The Oshawa Express

With the Durham College men’s baseball team’s season in the books, so did the legendary run of head coach Sam Dempster.

Dempster had been the program’s only head coach since it began back in 1992, so it only made sense for Darryl Reid, a former Lord who played and coached under him, to take over.

Before making his way to the Lords as the head coach, Reid has served as the general manager and head coach of the Toronto Mets elite programs since 2013.

Under his watch, the Mets have become one of the most respected programs in the country, with the 15U and 18U programs both excelling.

Speaking with The Oshawa Express, Reid says he is excited to take on this new challenge.

Of the bat, he wants to make one change in particular.

Reid says he’d like to engage a bit more with players during the offseason.

“Maybe extend it a little bit as we get going. It’s a couple days a week now, so [I’m trying] to get a little more accountability,” he said.

Reid says respect was the number one rule Dempster stood by.

“The biggest thing [I learned] is just to treat people with respect, and treat      everybody the same,” says Reid. “You had to be very accountable to him, and he demanded that you put your hard work in every day.”

He says it was fun to play for Dempster, and he hopes his team will feel the same about him.

His time as the coach and general manager of the Mets taught him how to deal with “a wide range of people.”

“We deal with professional players, and also with college players as they get older,” he explains. “They have a lot of different expectations, so it’s just trying to understand where everybody’s half is and knowing that it’s different, and making sure that you help them reach their personal goal.”

Reid says he knew Dempster had to eventually retire, and he’d thought about eventually taking over when he was an assistant coach at Durham between 2010 and 2012.

“I ended up having a career change and those thoughts kind of went away and I didn’t think I’d be able to do both,” he explains. “So when [Dempster] announced he was retiring, I still didn’t think about it, and then I talked to my wife and family… and I talked to the Mets to see if I could manage both, and that worked out.”

He says he knew the job had been posted, but he didn’t know when the deadline was and if he had missed it.

“By the time I figured that part out, I had about seven days to decide if I really wanted to do it,” he says. “So I applied, prepared for the interview, [and here we are].”

There are a number of players already on the team Reid is excited to work with, noting third baseman/outfielder Connor May, shortstop Griffin Oliver, catcher/first baseman Fernando Suarez Muniz, and catcher/first baseman Saw Cawker.