Head Coach Michael Minner

from the pitcher's mound to the coach's dugout

Squirrels Head Baseball Coach Michael Minner came to Charleston five years ago and has built Charleston’s Baseball Program into an amazing site.
In 2004 no one would have ever imagined that an eight state tournament would be held in Charleston at Hillhouse Park with both Charleston and East Prairie baseball players on the same team.

Minner has been the head coach for Charleston for the last three years, he is also the head girls basketball coach at CHS and the Art Teacher.

Minner, a 1998 graduate of Cape Central High School, was a two year varsity letterman for the Tigers under Head Coach Steve Williams. He was then recruited to play on the first ever William Woods University Baseball team, starting in 1999 as a pitcher. He attended William Woods on a baseball scholarship for the Owls under Head Coach Tom Vodnansky. His freshman year and senior year he was an honorable mention all conference pitcher.

Minner did his student teaching at Fulton High School in Fulton and spent one year with the Hornet baseball program. Before his tenure at Charleston, he was the Head Baseball Coach of the Cape Girardeau Sr. Legion Post 63 baseball team.

Minner returned to William Woods University on October 12, 2007 to tell his story as part of the Alumni Speakers Series. He spoke about his life "from the pitcher’s mound to the coach’s dugout -- from learner to art instructor."

In case you have never met Coach Minner, he is a small man with an enourmous heart and voice for his love of baseball and all those students, parents and coaches he works with. Minner has even begun holding a Baseball Camp in the summer for the future Fighting Squirrel players to come out and learn the fundamentals of baseball and have fun with it. "Baseball has provided me with a lifetime of memories. Each day brings something new and you never stop learning. My goal is to get as many kids to the next level, to have the same opportunities and experiences that I have had. If you want to be successful at this level you have to make it about the kids, they are our future and they deserve my best." Minner 2008.