All in the family: Musketeers turn to Logan to replace Logan

Sep. 30—When Greg Logan was ready to step away as Greenup County's baseball coach, his top assistant had a feeling of unfinished business.

"When he came to me, I told him I've had 16 years and I hate to just throw it down the drain," said Steve Logan, mentioning the time he and his older brother had run the Musketeers program to wild success. "Having a son that's just starting his freshman year — and not only my son, but that group of boys, as a whole, that age ... I can't just throw it away without a fight."

So Steve Logan, younger brother to the former head coach by 12 years, threw his hat in the ring to replace him.

That was a dream scenario for the Musketeers, who announced Steve Logan as their new bench boss on Wednesday.

"We were both thrilled and relieved when coach Steve Logan expressed interest in taking over the reins after coach Greg Logan's retirement," Greenup County athletic director Matt Thompson said. "Steve has been an essential piece in the baseball program's success over the past 16 years. Because of Greg and Steve's commitment over the years, this will be about as smooth a transition as you can have in this business."

Steve Logan is a first-time high school head coach, but it's not the first team he's led. The Lloyd Lumberjacks, including his son Ty, a Musketeers freshman, "have been all over the country playing," Logan said.

Logan believes that time and his experience as a Greenup County assistant — in which he gained renown for his preparedness and thoroughness mentoring a successful Musketeers pitching staff — have him primed to take over as skipper.

"It's just the title of the head coach," Logan said. "The familiarity, it's just gonna go on like Year 17 for me. Obviously, I'll have to buy me an ink pen that works to fill out the lineup card, but I don't really see a whole lot changing, other than writing the names down and giving a few orders."

He inherits a team that went 20-12 last season and won the inaugural Kentucky 2A Section 5 Tournament — a nice bounce-back from consecutive sub-.500 campaigns in 2019 and '21.

Behind what Logan called "a pretty good 1-2 punch" in pitchers Carson Wireman and Cohen Underwood, the Musketeers expect to remain youthful, with one sophomore and the aforementioned freshman class.

"We're gonna be young again," Logan said, "and hopefully those younger guys can step up their game."

Greg Logan, with Steve as his right-hand man, led the Musketeers to a 384-192 record from 2007-22. Greenup County played in five state tournament quarterfinals and one state semifinal during that time. The Musketeers won six 16th Region Tournament titles and 11 63rd District Tournament crowns.

Steve Logan doesn't anticipate his older brother will be hard to find. He's already making plans to accompany the Musketeers on their spring break trip to Vero Beach, Florida, Logan said.

"I'm sure we probably won't have to look to far to find him on home games. I'd say he'll be up in the press box with the heater on, probably beside you," Steve Logan deadpanned to a reporter, "probably telling you what I should've done or shouldn't have done."

The 46-year-old proprietor of Steve Logan Construction is married to Shawna. Their children are Ty and Taylan, a seventh-grader at McKell.

(606) 326-2658 — zklemme@dailyindependent.com