Rick Freeman pictured above, is the new head coach for the Steinert baseball team.  File Photo.

By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com

Mar. 1: One of the few people on earth who could step into the Steinert baseball head coaching position this late in the game has been told he can do so.

The Hamilton Township Board of Education approved Rick Freeman as Steinert’s head coach in the nick of time, as Freeman takes over Friday on the first day of practice. Having been a coach in the Spartan program for the past three years, not to mention the Hamilton Post 31 manager seemingly since the start of time, Freeman has a familiarity with the players and program that should make the transition smooth. He was the Steinert freshman coach for two years and the varsity pitching coach last year.

Nonetheless, it is a bittersweet duty Rick must perform. Sweet, because baseball – particularly baseball in Hamilton Square — is one of the great loves of his life. Bitter because he is taking over for good friend Brian Giallella, who decided to step down due to negative publicity surrounding simple assault charges that were dismissed and expunged from his record.

“Brian’s the best, he’s a very impressive young coach,” Freeman said. “No one does it better than Brian, so we know we have a daunting challenge ahead of us, but the most important thing is this program has always been about the players. Our goal is to see that the players across all three levels have a positive experience.”

And while Freeman obviously has mixed emotions, he understands it’s best for the Spartan players to have things as familiar as possible during an unexpected transition period. Which is the main reason why he accepted the position.

“It’s a strange feeling,” said the man with over 1,000 wins in legion baseball. “It’s certainly not what we bargained for, but you look forward to every season because it’s about the kids. That’s what the focus has to be, it has to be on the players, that they get something out of this. Something positive, no matter what the results are on the scoreboard.”

Giallella feels his replacement is definitely the right man for the job, and is pleased that the remainder of the coaching staff will all return.

“I am very happy that Rick is now leading the Steinert baseball program,” said Giallella, who won over 400 games with Steinert. “I coached with Rick and Post 31 for over 15 years and was able to learn so much from him. I am glad that the same coaches are still in the program, just with a little shuffling of levels.”

Aside from his Post 31 experience, Freeman has been head coach of Mercer County Community College and an assistant at Rider and Rutgers. Entering this situation of taking over one of the perennial powers in Mercer County at the last minute will hardly daunting.

“I’ve been around the block a time or two, so that helps,” Freeman said. “I’ve been with the program the last three years, I know the players through legion and through this program. So it’s never easy, but we’ll be OK.”

And while he is delighted his long-time friend and mentor has taken over, it was a tough situation for Giallella to step down. He did so with one thought in mind – that the players did not need a distraction surrounding them, which would have been possible due to negative press he received despite being cleared of any wrong-doing.

“This program will continue to be successful, and it has little to do with the head coach,” said Giallella, who received strong support and well wishes from his players when he told them he was stepping down.  “It’s about the players and their commitment to continuing the tradition that has been set forth for years before them. That’s why this program is successful.”

It’s a tradition that Freeman has been a part of for many years, only with a Post 31 logo on his uniform rather than a Spartan.