Mike Stone always said if he couldn’t hit fungoes or throw batting practice, it would be time to retire.
Stone can still hit and he can still pitch, but 2017 will be his 30th season at UMass, his 35th in Division I and his last one as a head coach.
The longtime Minuteman skipper announced Wednesday that he plans to retire following the 2017.
“I’ve decided to move on to the next chapter of my life. I’m not sure what it’s going to be yet. But after next year it’ll be 35 years (30 at UMass, five at Vermont) as a Division I head coach,” Stone said. “I feel young. I act young. When I think about the number 35 it seems like a lot, but I certainly don’t feel like I can’t do things.
“My wife and I want to retire when we have some time to enjoy retirement,” he added. “I just feels like the time is right.”
Stone, who will turn 62 during the 2017 season, is the program’s all-time winningest coach at 682-663-3 in 29 seasons in Amherst.
A 1974 draft choice of the St. Louis Cardinals out of the Taft School in Connecticut, he spent five years in the minor leagues, reaching as high as Double A. Following professional baseball, he enrolled at UMass and played football from 1979 to 1981.
During his senior year, he spent one season as the baseball coach at Northfield Mount Hermon. He cracked the college ranks in 1983 at Vermont, where he led the Catamounts before being hired at UMass in 1988.
Since 1947, UMass has had just three coaches: Earl Lorden, whom the program’s field is named after; Dick Bergquist, whom the bleachers behind home plate are named after; and Stone.
Stone was named the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year three times. During his tenure, UMass has won two Atlantic 10 Tournaments and went to two NCAA Tournaments. UMass has had 37 players drafted under Stone.
“It’s been enjoyable. The opportunity to compete and build a ball club has always kept me going,” Stone said. “I like to help young men develop as people and ball players.”
He’ll do it for one more season. Stone thought he’d be a little extra sentimental on his final spin, but his focus was on finishing on a high note.
“It’s going to be uncharted territory for me. For it to be the last, I’m sure I’ll savor things, a little, but I want to have a great team,” he said. “I want us to be as prepared as possible and really go out with a bang doing it the right way with a great ball club.”
Stone’s Minutemen have struggled in recent years and haven’t been above .500 since 2009. The Atlantic 10’s expansion to include southern schools has left UMass near the bottom of the conference in resources and scholarships, making it harder to compete.
UMass doesn’t really have the option to increase its budget without throwing its gender equity compliance out of whack.
“If we had more scholarship money, would we be able to compete for a higher caliber of player? There’s no question about that. We see it all the time when we’re trying to get commitments,” he said. “We have a lot of things to offer. The University of Massachusetts is a great academic institution and a great place to go to school. I’m proud of being a graduate and having the opportunity to be here for so many years. But when other people are competing with more scholarship money, it makes it difficult.”
He’s not complaining when he says it. He’s proud of his ability to adapt over his career.
“There’s been a lot of good times and some struggles. I’ve hung in there and been a survivor,” he said.
With a lot more spring days free, Stone planned to improve his golf game. He wasn’t sure how much baseball he’d watch.
“I’m not sure about that,” he said. “I’m sure in some way I’ll still be watching baseball games.”
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage