EDWARDSBURG — The average baseball coach probably does not think much about the journey taken as he or she invests time into their players.

Thoughts could be cluttered with the stress of getting the team’s infield on the same page, maintaining emotional intelligence on and off the field, heckling the umpire for blowing a call or chewing out a base runner for coming off the bag too early after a signal is given in the game. The amount of investment and heart a coach puts into their players isn’t fully realized until the end of a career, when memories flood back to mind as they see former players and coaches at a retirement party.

The day after Edwardsburg Superintendent Sherman Ostrander’s retirement open house, as tears streamed down his cheeks, the amount of investment in his players was certain.

Except, in this case, his players are staff, faculty and students.

“Yesterday, there was a ton of people that I knew before they were married, before they had children and before they were employed here,” he said, “I have got some wonderful teachers. They’re in the trenches every day. They’re the ones that make it go. I just have to put all the pieces in place. I will miss that.”

Although he was a former head baseball coach at Southwestern Michigan College, Ostrander is known more as an educator and administrator.

His T-shirt and baseball cap were replaced with a suit and tie, his dugout replaced by a desk, and his drive to win replaced by a drive to improve the school system for the students and staff. He used the analogy of a baseball coach to describe his next season of life.

“As one season ends another one begins,” he said. “I just hope as I walk into my next chapter that the students appreciate how much we’ve evolved.”

His retirement open house took place on Wednesday in the Board of Education Room at the District Administration Center. Current and former faculty and staff who worked under Ostrander gathered to celebrate his 31 years of service at Edwardsburg — 45 total as an educator. There were fond memories of Ostrander brought up by faculty and staff.

“I would have to say our open day luncheons with the teachers,” Birdella Holdread said. “He allows me to do my orange thing because I promote orange. He lets me have fun instead of giving a speech.”

The last day of the employment year is June 30, and Ostrander already has a plan for the very next day.

“I think on July 1, depending on the weather, I’ll wake up, have my first cup of coffee sitting out at the pool, reflecting on … the good things and say, ‘Now, what’s the first paragraph in the next chapter of my life going to be?” he said.

Ostrander sees himself traveling with his wife and catching up with his grandchildren’s activities.

“I joke when you’re in education, you go to high school and you move to bells,” he said. “I think I’ll move to my own bells. I’ll do what I want, when I want.”

James Knoll, current assistant superintendent and Edwardsburg Middle School principal, was in attendance at the open house. Although he has not officially started his new position as superintendent yet, he said the 90-day plan that he presented to the school board is already in effect.

“A lot of the things that are in there, we have already begun,” Knoll said. “I’ve been talking with the school board and the administrative team pretty consistently since I’ve been named.”

As one educational coach leaves the dugout and another one enters, Ostrander hopes the community will put the same trust into Knoll and he does not think community improvement is done after he leaves.

After spending a lifetime working in the communities of Brandywine, Niles, Dowagiac and Edwardsburg, Ostrander says he is happy with what he has accomplished and he doesn’t see himself leaving the area anytime soon.

“I just feel blessed to have all these different experiences from teaching, coaching, college administration, college coaching, to Edwardsburg and really not moving out of an area I grew up in,” Ostrander said.