Greg Tufaro - MyCentralJersey.com
Published 9:26 p.m. ET Jan. 25, 2021
Updated 7:07 a.m. ET Jan. 26, 2021
Scott Gleichenhaus, a former star player at South Plainfield High School, has taken over the reins of the baseball program at his alma mater.
The veteran mentor, who previously served as the head coach at Plainfield and Piscataway high schools, succeeds Anthony Guida, who stepped down earlier this month to spend more time with his family.
Gleichenhaus left Piscataway following the 2018 season, shortly before his wife, Veliana, gave birth to the couple’s first child, Ollie, and most recently served as a volunteer assistant at South Plainfield, where the coronavirus pandemic wiped out the entire 2020 scholastic season.
“I don’t think we miss a beat with Scott coming in,” South Plainfield athletics director Kevin McCann said. “I think we were lucky that he decided to take the helm and lead us. It’s not every day you get somebody with his experience to take a team that Coach Guida took to another level. You just know Coach ‘Glick’ will maintain that and look to bring it to an even higher level.”
Guida compiled a 213-105 record at South Plainfield, where he led the Tigers to their first Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament championship in school history and helped them end a 40-year state title drought.
South Plainfield enjoyed winning campaigns in all but two of Guida's 11 seasons. In six of those years, the Tigers won at least 20 games.
“We are looking for great things from Coach ‘Glick,’” McCann said. “He knows the tradition because he was a part of it for so many years. He takes pride in South Plainfield and the program. I think he’s gung-ho and he wants to better it.”
Vinnie Abene, co-president of the Greater Middlesex Conference, said Gleichenhaus’ return as a head coach is good for South Plainfield and the entire league.
“When ‘Glick’ was here (as a head coach at Piscataway), he was always involved and did a lot behind the scenes, trying to make the conference better,” Abene said. “To have a guy like him come back and be familiar with the conference is going to make the conference better.”
Abene said “replacing Anthony was not going to be easy,” but “I think they found a guy in ‘Glick’ who not only knows the game, but he really knows his players. He’s an intense guy who is going to add a lot of fire to that South Plainfield team.”
Gleichenhaus, who teaches social studies at South Plainfield Middle School, graduated from high school in 1994 as one of Middlesex County’s top players.
Scott Gleichenhaus as a player at South Plainfield.
He secured a three-quarters scholarship to Long Island University before transferring to Widener University, where he helped the program win a conference title.
After earning his degree in education, Gleichenhaus commenced his teaching and coaching career, beginning the latter as an assistant at Metuchen.
Gleichenhaus said he’s always been jealous of conference coaching peers such as Spotswood’s Glenn Fredricks and South River’s Mike Lepore Jr., who have both been able to enjoy long careers at their high school alma maters.
“I’m a South Plainfield guy,” Gleichenhaus said. “I love the community. It’s like no other town.”
Gleichenhaus spoke with friend, Chris Cochrane, a former South Plainfield and Rutgers University ace who the Oakland Athletics drafted, about the opportunity to succeed Guida.
“(Cochrane) said, ‘That’s a dream job,’” recalled Gleichenhaus, noting the conversation helped ease any doubts he may have had about returning to the diamond as a head coach with a toddler, who will soon turn 2 years old, at home.
“I knew I was making the right decision. You are a baseball guy having the opportunity to coach baseball where we played. There’s nothing like it in the world. I want to be remembered as someone who was willing to give back everything to the community that gave him everything. I want to coach every kid like I would want my kid to be handled and coached.”
Gleichenhaus said he is a 24-7-365 coach who perceives the vocation as a year-round profession. Approaching the game any other way, Gleichenhaus said, would be selling players short. The coach has already met virtually with his team.
“It’s a surreal feeling to be able to have this opportunity at this time,” Gleichenhaus said, noting he wants players to “use baseball as a springboard to something greater in life.”
Gleichenhaus said he can wait for the season to get underway. Coaches can start working with pitchers and catchers on March 26 and can begin practice with their full squads six days later.
“We’ve got so much baseball bottled inside of us,” Gleichenhaus said. “It’s going to all ooze out and explode."
https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/sports/high-school/baseball/2021/01/25/nj-baseball-south-plainfield-hires-alumnus-head-baseball-coach/4254930001/
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