By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
Southeast of Saline officially locked down its final head coaching vacancy on Thursday when it announced that Chance Ptacek would be taking over as head baseball coach at SES.
Ptacek steps in to replace Mike Garretson, who accumulated 423 wins in 28 years coaching at Southeast before retiring last spring.
The Trojans are coming off of a 14-10 campaign that saw them win a playoff game in the opening round of the 3A regional.
In addition to 17 years on the Trojan football coaching staff, Ptacek has also coached the Salina Spikes and Salina American Legion baseball teams for the last 16 years.
Prior to his tenures as a teacher and a coach at SES, Ptacek played baseball as a Trojan himself before moving into a successful collegiate career with Bethany College.
“This program has meant a lot to me,” Ptacek said. “Some of the coaches that have had the biggest impact on me were right here. The bar has been set high by Dee Kozlow and Mike Garretson for a long time, but I’m excited to take this on and maintain the standard that they’ve set.”
Ptacek was a natural fit for this position thanks to his deep-rooted loyalty to Southeast of Saline, its student-athletes, and its larger community, strengths that were recognized by AD Doug Minneman.
“Watching Chance coach football, you can see what a fantastic job he does,” Minneman said. “He has a lot of experience coaching baseball, and his pride in being a Trojan is so apparent to everybody. That shows in everything from his willingness to take care of the field in the summer to the way he coaches his players. I’m sure the program will continue to thrive under his leadership.”
As right-hand man to Mitch Gebhardt, Ptacek will continue to lead one of the fiercest defensive units in the state of Kansas on the gridiron this fall, with several of those athletes planning to join him on the diamond in the spring.
“We have a good thing going here, and it’s natural for that to spill over into other programs,” Ptacek said. “We have a strong culture across the board at Southeast, and it’s going to be very convenient for me already knowing a lot of these dual sport athletes here.”
With several returning pieces from last year’s 14-10 squad, the Trojans could very well be a force to be reckoned with come the spring of 2025.