WCA baseball coach’s influence to players past and present

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WWAY) – Trent Mongero may only be in his second year leading the Wilmington Christian Academy baseball team, but he’s been leading dugouts for more than three decades.

Formerly the head coach at Laney and other schools across North Carolina and Georgia, Mongero has had several of his former players become coaches themselves.

He takes great pride in being a driving force behind that.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Mongero said. “We need coaches and we need people that care. My goal is to pay it forward. I don’t know it all. I’m not a guru. But I love this game and I’m a student of this game. I try to prepare my teams in such a way that they can pursue their career goals or even coach their own children later on in their lives. It’s such a blessing to see my former players coaching. It just brings me chills. It’s a sign of getting old I guess, too.”

Among those that make up the branches of his coaching tree are Topsail Head Coach David Harris and assistant Nick Strickland. Both were among Mongero’s first players at Laney in the mid-90’s, where he got them to focus on more than just baseball.

“He had a conversation with me at one point,” Harris said. “I was maybe not performing as well in the classroom as I should have. He pushed me to find out what my class rank was in that class. And as competitive as I was on the field, he knew that once I knew what my rank was in that class I’d be competitive in the classroom. Sure enough, that worked.”

The bond Mongero had with his players has stood the test of time.

“We talk quite frequently,” Strickland said. “He was my very first phone call after we won a state title game back in 2010. It was just one of those things where I’m like, ‘coach, I’m glad that you were there for me, you were always there for me when I had questions about coaching.’ Coach Mongero had plan throughout a full year to work with kids and he really drove us to really want to be there.”

Tons of players even in recent years have gone up to Mongero for advice on how to dip their toe into coaching and he offers them all the same advice.

“Ultimately to assess their program,” Mongero said. “What are the strengths and weaknesses. Some people think coaches can wave a magic wand and we can literally change a program in three months, but it takes time. I tell them, ‘get in there, get your feet wet, hold true to your standards, love on those kids, coach them up.’ It’s an honor and a privilege to feel like in some sort of way I helped them on that journey.”

Other coaches that used to play for Mongero include his son Taber, who is in his second season as UNCW’s Director of Player Development, a job he got immediately after his playing days with the Seahawks.