FLEMING ISLAND – Before the season began, Don Suriano had one last goal to complete a list of achievements that has spanned 26 seasons at the helm of three different high school baseball programs.
With a recent 7-5 win over Bartram Trail, the Fleming Island coach secured his 500th career win.
“Wow, it’s been a long time,” Suriano said. “This is one of several highlights of my career, and it’s very satisfying. This was the last goal I wanted to reach as a high school coach.”
Suriano, who celebrates his 56th birthday on March 20, began his coaching career in 1981 at The Bolles School in Jacksonville, where he led the Bulldogs to his first of three state championships.
Sixteen years later, the burly coach with a mind of his own left to establish a baseball program at newly opened Ridgeview High in Clay County. He repeated the same task at Fleming Island in 2004, when the school first opened its doors.
Through it all, Suriano added 16 district titles, 10 state final-four appearances and one state runner-up finish.
“I’ve had a lot of great players at Bolles, and then Ridgeview and now Fleming Island,” said Suriano, who played second base and served as co-captain on the 1976 Jacksonville University team. “They’re all a part of this moment.
“Coaching at any level is a grind,” he said. “From year to year a coach may know how good his team may be, but for me, I’ve been fortunate enough to be in some very good places.”
Building two programs from scratch has been among his greatest challenges, the Fernandina Beach native said.
“It can be tough starting a new program because generally, you don’t have a senior class that first year so you must learn how to win,” he said. “Generally, that first year is below a .500 mark.
“The second year is to get to .500, and the third year you look to reach that 20-win mark,” Suriano said. “Progression each year is the key.”
Such wasn’t the case at Fleming Island, however. Suriano led the Golden Eagles to a 19-8 record and a runner-up finish in the district his first year; and he followed that up with a 21-win season and a district championship the next year.
“It’s always so satisfying to begin a program, but then to see the end result makes the blood, sweat and tears all the more worth it,” he said. “But I couldn’t have reached any of this without the coaches and players I’ve been associated with.
“Right now I’m in the best place I’ve been as far as support of administration, faculty and parents goes.”
With two other recent wins, Suriano now owns a 502-215 lifetime record, giving him a very impressive .700 winning percentage.
When he thinks about that record, he can’t help but reflect on some of the great players he has coached over the years. Two names come to mind immediately: Chipper Jones and Rick Wilkins, a pair of players who went on to make names for themselves in the major leagues.
“Chipper has to be the best-ever player I’ve coached,” Suriano said. “Rick’s in the conversation, but Chipper is a future Hall of Famer.”
Thinking about Jones, who is winding down a spectacular 17-year career -- all with the Atlanta Braves -- made the wily Fleming Island coach recall a certain state championship game victory.
“He pitched that game with a broken hand,” Suriano said. “I believe the mental toughness he showed was the major emphasis why they made him a first-round pick. He was special.”
Suriano, who appeared in a “Beyond the Glory” TV segment on Jones several years ago, said he still keeps in touch with Jones, and that he will appear in another television piece being aired sometime this summer on Fox Sports South.
Jones also speaks highly of his former high school coach. This is what he has to say about Suriano on his official Web site:
“Our baseball team at Bolles (I also played football and basketball), won the [Class] 2A state championship my junior year. We had an awesome team. We got to the championship game my senior year, but lost in the late innings. It was a disappointing end to a great athletic run for me at Bolles. I owe a great deal to coach Don Suriano and the teaching staff at Bolles for pushing me so hard my three years there.”
Though the names may have changed, one thing is sure: Suriano knows how to keep winning. His Golden Eagles, led by players such as Sam McDade, Matt Harry and Chris O’Neil, have won their first seven games of the new season.
“I know I have some years left in this game, but believe me, I won’t be around for another 500 wins,” Suriano with a chuckle.