“Coach Stratton was selected for his demonstrated passion for the sport, but most importantly his commitment to the welfare and personal success of players,” Fenwick athletic director Michael Coleman said. “I look for people who have the talent to build great programs and who care about developing players into good citizens.”
Maus was 61-29 in three seasons with the Falcons, winning Greater Catholic League Coed North Division championships all three years.
Stratton, 46, is a counselor at Edgewood Middle School. His wife Nancy is the principal at Monroe Elementary School.
“First and foremost, I want to develop players not only as athletes, but as young men,” Stratton said. “I want to bring an atmosphere of making the game fun while working hard at it.
“I didn’t want to let this opportunity to coach in the GCL pass by. This was perfect timing for me because my kids are grown now and I can devote all the time I need to the program. We’ve got a lot of guys coming up through the program that are very talented, so we’ve got high expectations.”
The Middletown High School graduate has been at Fenwick for four seasons as the junior varsity coach. He worked under Bob Sherlock for one year before Maus took over the program.
Stratton also coached at Edgewood for six seasons, four as JV coach and two as varsity assistant.
On the field, he said people should expect his teams to be aggressive.
“I learned this from Brian Caudill at Edgewood, and it’s always stuck with me: We’re going to make teams make a play,” Stratton said. “We’ll be aggressive in all facets of the game.”
Maus, 43, said Stratton should do well as the head coach.
“He has his own kind of coaching style and perspective, but he was very absorbent of what Coach Sherlock did and what we did,” Maus said. “He’s prepared. He’s organized. The kids like him a bunch. I think he’ll do a good job.”
Maus said he stepped down to spend more time with his family, wife Andrea and 6-year-old son Tycen.
“My son was the driving force behind it,” said Maus, also the head coach at Talawanda for 10 seasons. “It’s just time to be more of a dad than I have been up to this point.
“I felt like it was a good three years at Fenwick. It was hard to walk away from the kids in the school and the program in general because I think it’s a great place. I would love for my kid to go to a situation like that if he wants to play sports and be involved in a really great community.”
His plan was to coach at Fenwick for five years and then re-evaluate his family situation.
“When I started coaching at Fenwick, Ty was into superheroes and those things,” Maus said. “In the last year or so, he has really embraced sports. He really wanted to play last year, but I was concerned it was too early. I think the earlier they start, the earlier they get burned out on it, so I wanted to delay it as much as possible.
“But we spent a lot of time playing wiffle ball and finding youth fields and going to Reds games, and I think it’s time for him to be able to do that. My plan kind of got expedited to three years.”
While coaching youth baseball appears likely for Maus, he can’t rule out a return to prep coaching at some point.
“Never say never,” Maus said. “My friends say I’ve just hit the pause button. We’ll see. Right now, I’m kind of excited to be involved in my son’s growth as a student and as an athlete and as a person.”
Chris Stratton File
Age: 46
Residence: Monroe
Family: Wife Nancy, daughter Madeline (18), son Nick (15)
High school: Middletown, Class of 1989
College: Bachelor's degree in education from Miami, master's degree in school counseling from Dayton
Coaching history: Two years as graduate assistant at Miami University Middletown, six years at Edgewood (four as junior varsity coach, two as varsity assistant), four years as junior varsity coach at Fenwick
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