FROM KEITH GROLLER
Last week it was announced that Michelle (Danish) Schoeneberger has resigned as Nazareth's coach to devote more time to her family after a very successful tenure with the Blue Eagles.
And, now we can confirm that Joe Ruane has decided to step down at Notre Dame, also to spend more time with family.
Ruane went 48-39 in four seasons, and the Crusaders qualified for the district tournament all four years he was in charge.
Recordwise, the best mark was this past season when Notre Dame went 15-7 overall, 12-4 in the Colonial League and won the CL's South Division title.
Notre Dame couldn't get a postseason win, however, falling to 4-2 to Pen Argyl in the Colonial League tournament and then losing to North Schuylkill 4-1 in the District 11 2A quarterfinals.
"Basically it is a time issue," Ruane said in an e-mail to me. "My wife would like to see more of me (which is a good thing). She would like to travel more in the months of January and February like we used to. We used to go down to Florida for spring training every year. We missed that. As a head coach, I made myself available all year long, I did some summer teams, some fall teams and held open gyms, not only for our high school girls but for anyone that wanted to work on their game.
"I was gone a lot. I just need to be home more. I have two granddaughters I would like to play with."
The 55-year-old Ruane, who is a supervisor for a mechanical contractor, said he might not be done with softball totally.
"Depending on who they hire to take my place. I would be willing to help out come March," he said. "I loved the Notre Dame girls, past and present. I was with the school through Little Crusaders, assistant varsity Coach and head coach for a total of 10 years. It was really a tough decision to tell the girls I was not coming back as head coach. I can't believe the response from the girls, past players and parents. It's unbelievable the nice texts and e-mails I have received in the past week. And that will make it even tougher next spring when softball starts back up."
Ruane also wanted to thanks his two assistant coaches over the past four seasons, Bob Andrews and Boris Chaikowsky.
"We could not have had the program we had without them," Ruane said. "Their hearts were always with the girls."
And, he closed his e-mail by saying: "I'm sure I will be seeing you around. When you love something as much as I love coaching, You can never give it up completely."
"Depending on who they hire to take my place. I would be willing to help out come March," he said. "I loved the Notre Dame girls, past and present. I was with the school through Little Crusaders, assistant varsity Coach and head coach for a total of 10 years. It was really a tough decision to tell the girls I was not coming back as head coach. I can't believe the response from the girls, past players and parents. It's unbelievable the nice texts and e-mails I have received in the past week. And that will make it even tougher next spring when softball starts back up."
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