UBC Thunderbird Baseball Fan Page

Ed Cheff, head coach at Lewis-Clark State for 34 years, is stepping down effective September 1. Story at The College Baseball Blog: Lewis-Clark State Coach Ed Cheff to retire.

His replacement is Gary Picone, a native of Trail, BC. Picone is currently the Athletic Director at L-C State, and is also the Tournament Director for the NAIA Baseball National Championship. He will be giving up the Tournament Director job, but remain as AD.

The Douglas College ‐ Centre for Campus Life is pleased to announce that Cavanagh Whitely has been named the Head Coach for the Royals Men’s Baseball Program.

Coach Whitely is a native of Prince George, BC and just completed his 10th season as a part of the UBC Thunderbirds baseball program. He has worked the last 7 years as a specialist coach in charge of infield, offensive systems development, and the Thunderbirds mental skills training program.

From 2004-2010, Whitely served as the full-time assistant to head coach Terry McKaig and was a integral part of UBC’s impressive run to a fourth-place finish at the NAIA World Series in 2006. It was the first time a Canadian team ever competed for a US National Championship. He was also the head of recruiting for the T-Birds, the facility coordinator and head instructor of the Mizuno School of Baseball at UBC, and the organizer for the UBC summer camp program.

Whitely is also highly involved in community baseball programs. The Coaching Association of Canada awarded him a position as a High Performance Consultant with Baseball BC in 2005, and he is currently a coach with both Team BC and the National University team program that competes during the summer. He has coached with Team Canada from 2003- 2006 at the Grand Forks International Baseball Tournament and at the 2008 and 2010 World University Championships. Cavanagh is also an active Baseball BC NCCP level four clinician and evaluator.

 “I’m looking forward to taking over the Royals Baseball program here at Douglas College. The NWAACC is a very competitive conference that gives Canadian ball players a great opportunity to showcase their skills. Our goal here will be to develop student-athletes to meet their potential on and off the field and allow them to move on to quality four year programs or even on to the professional ranks.”

As a player, Whitely was recruited by the National Baseball Institute and started his college career at Douglas under Coach John Haar. After two solid seasons there, he transferred and spent three successful years on the UBC squad from 1999-2002, playing every infield position while holding down a career batting average of over .300. Whitely has also spent time in the Australia pro league, playing for the Padres organization in Queensland from 2002 to 2003 while concurrently serving as a Director of Coaching and Development Officer for Baseball Australia.

“Cavanagh brings a wealth of experience and expertise in dealing with student-athletes both as a coach and as a faculty member at Douglas with the Student Success courses.  We look forward in having him bring his knowledge to, an already vibrant coaching staff at the College.” stated Dean Howie the Director of Athletics and Campus Life.

Cavanagh currently lives in Vancouver and has his Master’s Degree in Human Kinetics from the University of British Columbia.

Douglas College Royals Baseball page