Sports
Gimme 5: Oak Lawn Coach Clifton's Career Comes Full Circle
Brian Clifton, baseball coach at Oak Lawn, reflects on the past season and why he enjoys coaching at his alma mater.
Oak Lawn baseball coach Brian Clifton was a three-sport athlete for the Spartans as a high-schooler. His career has come full circle, as he now coaches at the school he attended.
Clifton started coaching after he finished school at St. Xavier, where he played basketball. He began his coaching career as a football coach at Brother Rice. At the time, former Oak Lawn coach Skip Sullivan gave him a job as a freshman baseball coach at Oak Lawn. Then, he started coaching baseball and football full-time at Oak Lawn.
He moved up to become the head baseball job three years ago. The most rewarding thing to Clifton about coaching is being a part of baseball and developing relationships.
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“Still being able to be part of a game that I love,” Clifton said. “Baseball is just a unique game. And just the relationships and the bonds that you build with the kids and your assistant coaches as well, and still being able to be a part of the community where I grew up.”
In the spring, the Spartans ended with a 21-14 record.
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“It’s a great record and a great outcome considering we carried only three seniors on the team,” Clifton said. “Our expectations, I think, were met with regards to our win total, but I think we would have liked to have taken it a step further.”
Oak Lawn lost in the St. Laurence Regional championship game to St. Laurence.
Clifton said the summer is a good time to evaluate new players and his returning players and for the Spartans to work to get better. They are playing about 20 games this summer.
