The562’s coverage of Lakewood Athletics is sponsored by J.P. Crawford, Class of 2013.
It’s hard to imagine a much harder act to follow than Spud O’Neil at Lakewood. The legendary baseball coach retired as the second-winningest coach in California history with 984 victories including two CIF-SS championships. O’Neil’s tenure spanned 43 years at the school and produced multiple MLB alums.
The Lakewood administration is confident they have their guy, as they turn to a class of 2010 Lakewood alum in Anthony Razo to lead the next era of Lakewood baseball.
For Razo, coming home to coach his alma mater is a dream come true.
“It was pretty surreal, I had to pinch myself for a couple days after,” he said. “It’s a special thing because of what’s been built here. I’ve had my eye on it. I’m so excited to be back home and be around family, and just honor the history and tradition of this program. For me that’s what really drove me to want to pursue it.”
Razo has been coaching in college at Clarke University, where he’d been an assistant coach for the last seven seasons. Prior to that he was an assistant coach at Culver-Stockton College. A former player at Clarke, Razo helped run every level of the university’s baseball program including leading them to three straight NAIA National Tournament appearances and a regular season conference championship.
“This was (a tough hire) because of the community and the history of baseball at Lakewood,” said longtime Lancers athletic director Mike Wadley. “Everyone had an opinion and thoughts on what we should do. Razo fits what we need, he’s a Lakewood alum, he had a lot of success here as a player, and he was a college coach and recruiter. He’s deeply rooted in the Lakewood tradition but he wants to forge his own path, too.”
Razo becomes just the fourth baseball coach in Lakewood history after long stints by O’Neil and John Herbold before him.
“I think that it’s important that whoever is getting this job knows it’s a long-term commitment,” said Razo. “I know when I applied for it, it wasn’t a one or two year stop to find my next thing. I took that into consideration that if I’m doing it I want to do this for the long run. Following coach O’Neil and coach Herbold, having that responsibility–I understood that coming in and for me that’s part of the long-term decision.”
Wadley said that Razo will start as a walk-on coach but that there’s mutual interest in him bridging into a career as a teacher or substitute.
“Keeping him long-term was a concern,” said Wadley. “He has things planned out and a vision of how to make it work.”
Razo said that he’s been hearing from a ton of friends and former teammates who were excited for him to get the job. He said that he thinks he’ll be able to bring a new school approach that still fits in with the school’s hard-nosed reputation and history.
“It’s about developing good relationships with our guys,” he said. “We’ll still play the Lakewood way, but I think it’s about the kids knowing we have their back and their best interest at heart. We’re going to coach you hard and love you even harder. Baseball’s a lot different today than it was 20 years ago, so it’s trying to do a little of the new school with that old school mentality.”
