Linfield’s top ’Cat retires: Scott Carnahan’s farewell to arms
By Rusty Rae, McMinnville N-R/News-Register
May 30, 2017
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Scott Carnahan, Linfield’s athletic director and head baseball coach retiring this June, is the epitome of the Linfield way.
For
more than a quarter century, he has practiced and refined his practicum of
success. Dedicating himself to the betterment of the athletic department and
the college, personifying the values of integrity, hard work, and perseverance,
Carnahan has continued the tradition of those before him: Paul Durham, Roy
Helser, Ted Wilson and Ad Rutschman.
In
doing so, the athletic department has grown both in terms of facilities, and
perhaps more importantly, by the influence the department has had on the men
and women as members of the Linfield family.
Carnahan
actually began his Linfield career in the fall of 1969, as a Wildcat freshman.
He was recruited to play all three sports at Linfield – football, basketball
and baseball. When his father was hurt in a serious logging accident, he moved
home to help the family, enrolling at Centralia Community College. While there,
he played basketball and baseball before returning to Linfield to finish his
college career, competing in football and baseball his junior year, and
baseball his senior year.
After
graduating from Linfield, Carnahan said his goal was to coach (baseball) at the
college level, but didn’t know where that might be, noting, “Obviously, I loved
the place (Linfield) when I was here as a player,” he said.
But out
of college, his career turned in a different direction. He had a contract with
the Portland Mavericks (at the princely sum of $300 per month) – which didn’t
work out – he lasted three weeks. He worked for Evergreen Aviation for nine
months before he discovered his path to teaching and coaching. The position at
Evergreen was attractive, three times the starting pay for teaching. But in the
nine months of employment with Del Smith, he was on the road six, and that
simply did not allow him time for his wife.
“My
wife Cathy and I were living in the Michelbook Apartments. She was teaching in
Yamhill-Carlton. I was on a world-wide trip with Del and had just flown into
New York. I called home only to find the number was disconnected,” he
remembers.
Frantically,
he called his dad, who let him know “Cathy moved.”
Carnahan
learned his wife had taken a job in Chehalis and Carney had been offered a job
at Onalaska High School. “And by the way, you have to be home tomorrow for
teacher orientation,” his father told him, marking the beginning of his journey
as a teacher and coach.
He
jumped on a redeye to Portland, where the family had left a car for him, drove
to the high school, arriving in time for the 8 a.m. teacher orientation. He
coached there for two years. When the levy failed (a blessing in disguise, he
notes), all high school sports were discontinued. So, he moved to the Chehalis
High School, where he coached for two years. He interviewed to for head
baseball coach at Big Bend Community College – and was offered the position.
“I told
them I would get back to them. About three miles out of Moses Lake
(Washington), Cathy turned to me and said, ‘If you come here, you will be
coming here alone’.”
Obviously,
he did not accept that position, but one at Lower Columbia College came open.
Carnahan had been the runner-up there the previous year, and when it opened up
again, he was chosen. He taught, coached baseball and also assisted the
basketball coach – Mike Polis. Mike’s son, Mickey, is now the assistant coach
for Shanan Rosenberg at Linfield. For Carnahan, life is about relationships –
and they last forever.
Fast
forward six years, and Carnahan is in Arizona, driving the team bus. As he
pulls into the parking lot for a Mariners’ spring game, out of the parking lot
comes a van. It stops – and it’s none other than Ad Rutschman, who at the time
(1983) was coaching both football and baseball.
Rutschman
let Carnahan know this was going to be his final year coaching baseball, and
there would be a position opening, and he should apply for the position.
Carnahan went through the interview process and that summer was named baseball
coach at Linfield.
You
might assume the rest of the story is history – and so it is – but then you’d
be missing the crux of Scott Carnahan’s Linfield adventure.
Remembers
Jimmy Ray, Carnahan’s bench coach and friend of more than 30 years, “When I
came to Linfield for my visit, the grass in the infield was crotch-high; a cat
ran across the field and made a deposit on the home plate area; when I asked
where the training facilities were, coach Rutschman smiled and told me ‘We
don’t get injured here.’ And when Ray walked through the locker area at old
Riley Gymnasium and heard someone yell ‘showers’ when one of the toilets was
flushed, he again asked Rutschman what was that and Ad said, ‘Jimmy, that’s our
agility drill’.”
Such
was the state of facilities at Linfield in the early 1970s. Today, thanks to
Carnahan (and he would list a cast of thousands who helped), Linfield has some
of the best athletic facilities in the conference and the baseball park remains
one of the best in all of the Northwest.
Though
he never expected to become athletic director, Carnahan began working on
athletic facilities when Ted Wilson Gymnasium and the athletic offices were
built. He became athletic director in 1996 when Rutschman stepped down.
Carnahan was the ideal replacement for Rutschman as he understood the culture
of the athletic department and, through his baseball coaching, the management
of facilities had already developed significant relationships within the
Linfield community. The Linfield baseball stadium is one of many examples of
the Carnahan touch.
Jim Wright
Stadium and Helser Field cost the college $200,000, but Carnahan estimates its
value at a million dollars –because of the relationships he has developed with
alums, community leaders and business owners, and the passion for simply
getting things done, regardless of the challenge. Carnahan’s charisma earned
the trust of countless donors, and his integrity found others willing to jump
aboard the Linfield athletic train to provide volunteer time and talents
allowing the athletic department to lead the conference in facilities.
Virtually
every athletic venue has been upgraded, but these upgrades are the result of
Carnahan’s blue collar worth ethic and integrity. Look no further than
Linfield’s current gym and athletic offices, the swimming pool and Rutschman
Field House to see how the college’s athletic endowment has grown.
Notes
Ray, “Carney brought a healthy discontent for the present.” In other words,
Carnahan had a vision for what Linfield’s athletic facilities could be and was
able to get anyone standing nearby to jump onto that bandwagon.
This
season, he was named the Northwest Conference’s Coach of the Year as the ‘Cats
won yet another conference title, and Carnahan etched his 600th win into the
record books. He has coached the most baseball games as a Linfield coach and
also has the most wins.
Carnahan’s
winning record is no surprise. One of his early mentors, Washington State head
baseball coach Bobo Brayton, told him “Pitching and defense win games.”
Over
the years, Carnahan has become a savant in the area of developing catchers and
pitchers. Particularly in the area of pitcher development, Carnahan has been
able to take talented arms and make them better, without forcing them to change
from what made them great initially.
That
he’s had numerous offers from other institutions is no secret, but his love of
Linfield has kept him and Cathy in McMinnville.
Carnahan
returned to Linfield as a student too late to share the joy of the 1971
national championship the baseball team won under Rutschman, also one of his
mentors.
But
when NY Yankee star third baseman, Scott Brosius, a Linfield grad Carnahan
recruited to the baseball team, came asking for a letter of recommendation
because he was interested in coaching college baseball, Carnahan, who was
besieged by the multitude of details and duties of the athletic director
position asked, “Why don’t you take the baseball position here?”
And
when Brosius led Linfield to the national championship in 2013, it was Carnahan
who groomed the pitching staff for Brosius, and who called the pitches during
those games. After eight years at Linfield. Brosius moved on to coach
professional baseball, and Carnahan was back coaching baseball until his
retirement this year.
Linfield
head football coach Joe Smith, who was an assistant baseball coach for Carnahan
prior to becoming the head football coach, said of Carnahan, “He has the ‘it’
factor. Nobody really knows what ‘it’ is, but Scott has it. A part of what has
made Scott successful is the ability to relate to just about everyone and his
absolute integrity. His handshake is his word and people know they can trust
him to do what he says he will do.”
Notes Jordan Harlow, a member of that championship team and now assistant coach
with the ‘Cats, said, “It is amazing how he interacts with people. His success
is no accident. His work behind the scenes has really been an eye opener for me
on how to be successful.
“To me,
Carney represents the fabric of what has made Linfield’s athletics great for so
many years,” he added.
Somewhere, among the many mementoes he saved from his time at Linfield, there
is an aerial photo showing the Linfield athletic facilities with the college in
the background. His wife Cathy had “Carney’s vision” added to the photo and it
serves as a representation of what he has accomplished in his years at the
college.
While
the facilities are certainly visual extensions of his accomplishments, he says
what he will miss most is the relationships with coaches and students.
“It’s
really more about what you’re trying to teach through the game. Perseverance,
overcoming adversity – things like that which are really meaningful to me.
“When
you see guys after they have left school who are leading successful lives and
who hold the Linfield experience close to their hearts – those are the things
that are important to me. Being able to make a difference in the lives of
student athletes who come to Linfield – that is the thing I will hold close to
my heart,” he said.
It’s
the Linfield way.
