Cassopolis High School athletic director Matt Brawley no longer wanted to be the Rangers varsity baseball coach because of family and work reasons.

The process of hiring a new baseball coach didn’t involve several interviews.

One conversation sealed the deal.

Athletic director Matt Brawley saw the perfect replacement right in his family

In the winter, Andrew Brawley, Matt’s nephew, became the Rangers’ new varsity baseball coach.

“He came up to me and he said if I wanted it, I could have it,” said Andrew Brawley. “I said I’d be happy to have the job. He just had a little girl and now he has three kids. He’s a great A.D. He goes to everything. You’ll see him at middle school seventh grade volleyball games. He works hard.”

Andrew has plenty of baseball experience as a player. For three years he played shortstop for the Niles High School baseball team. After graduating from Niles in 2009, Andrew played baseball at Goshen College, Lake Michigan College and Olivet College.

“He has a good baseball background,” Matt said.

“He hired me because I know a lot about baseball,” Andrew said.

Andrew’s coaching debut came on April 1 against Edwardsburg. The Eddies won 11-0.

Andrew wasn’t discouraged after the loss. He met with his team in center field after the game and had a positive conversation with them.

“We just have to keep our heads up,” Andrew said. “That kid (Edwardsburg starting pitcher Dalton Raymond) is a good pitcher. He’s going to pitch in college. We won’t face many guys like that in our conference.

“I knew coming out in the first day it was going to be tough. It has been cold and we haven’t been able to get outside much. This is the nicest day we’ve had.”

Matt was at the game supporting his nephew and the team.

“I know I have his support,” Andrew said. “He hasn’t really given me any advice. I feel if you work hard good things will happen. That’s what I’m telling my kids. That’s the way baseball is.”

In future games Andrew doesn’t expect a repeat of how his team played against Edwardsburg. The Rangers had only one hit and committed four errors, which led to four unearned runs for the Eddies.

“If we win 20 games this year that would be a good season,” Andrew said. “We also want to challenge for conference and district titles. We haven’t won a conference title since 1962 and we haven’t won a district since 1998.

“We want to put numbers up on the (baseball championship) banner in the school gym.”