With 11 section titles, three section Coach of the Year honors, and a State Coach of the Year to his credit, it is no secret that Eric Lay is one of the best in Northern California, but the Colusa RedHawk skipper reached a new milestone this past season when he notched the 500th win of his career.
While the landmark win came on March 8 as the RedHawks downed Fort Bragg 10-1, by the conclusion of the 2023 season, Lay had extended his record to 524-108-3.
Putting that accomplishment into perspective is Lay’s former player and longtime assistant coach Sonny Badaluco.
“What this stands for is consistency and love of the game,” said Badaluco. “Coach Lay brought the same effort and intensity to practice when I was a player as he did when I coached with him. The guy is the ultimate competitor, but more importantly he loves baseball and the bonds he builds with his guys. I think that’s why so many of us have come back to coach with him.”
Between 2001 and 2011, in Maxwell, Lay set a state mark for the best coaching record with a nearly unheard of .864 winning percentage, which translated into 254 wins and just 40 losses.
Then after migrating to Colusa in 2012-13, he has subsequently led the RedHawks to five section titles in that time.
Throughout his tenure, Lay has never had a losing season and much of his success can be epitomized in a statement made by the late Hall of Fame coach of the Dallas Cowboys Tom Landry who said, “I don’t believe in team motivation. I believe in getting a team prepared so it knows it will have the necessary confidence when steps on a field and be prepared to play a good game.”
It is exactly that preparation that puts him head and shoulders above his peers, although the fact that he is 6’8” doesn’t hurt either.
Still, Badaluco, now the Assistant Director of Student-Athlete Development at the University of Washington, says Lay is unique in other ways as well.
“I’ve never seen a coach balance respect, friendship, influence, and love the way Coach Lay has,” Badaluco said. “He gets so much out of his guys because they understand he wants the best for them and they don’t want to let him down. He backs up his words with incredible work ethic and accountability. He’s always there for his guys, even long after they stop playing for him. Coaching from a place of love and mutual respect like that has made him what he is today, one of the greatest coaches the state of California has ever seen.”
Lay now stands second in the Northern Section to Winters’ Jeff Ingles, who accrued a 621-223 record from 1988-2022, but perhaps more impressively joins an elite circle given that in the 1,200 high schools in California, only 65 high school baseball coaches have reached the 500 win mark.■
