After 12 seasons and three trips to the state tournament, Simon Kenton baseball coach Troy Roberts has decided to step down as head coach of the Pioneers.
Roberts informed the school of his decision on Wednesday after guiding the team to 274 victories in his tenure with 11 district championships and three region championships.
“When I took over as AD (athletic director) three years ago, to be able to do that job and coach baseball the way it should be coached, just wasn’t working for me,” Roberts said. “Too much time away from my wife and family and they didn’t deserve that time away from them.”
Roberts spent 29 seasons coaching baseball. The last 13 at Simon Kenton (one of the seasons wiped out in 2020 due to COVID), 11 at Scott and five at Ryle as an assistant.
“Love the players, players have been great to me and why I did it so long,” Roberts said. “I’ve had a great coaching staff here at Simon Kenton that helped tremendously, administration has been great, parents have been great.”
Prior to Roberts arrival, the program had never won a region title, dating back over 70 years. In 12, Roberts won three. It’s not that the Pioneers weren’t a successful program. Roberts took over for John Finn, who won 552 games in 33 seasons with the Pioneers. Roberts got them to the pinnacle, two trips to the state championship game in 2014 and ’17 and then getting the Pioneers back to the state tournament this past season.
“When we got here, the players were so well coached and we were able to hit the ground running,” Roberts said. “It wasn’t anything we were trying to build, and I’ll admit it was hard at first because those were big shoes to fill. Coach Finn laid the foundation and we were able to hit the ground running. The success came faster than I thought and that’s on the players. Great teams, great kids that were very coachable.”
Other impressive numbers and accomplishments during Roberts’ stead include 10 seasons of 20 wins or more and a district champ in all but one season. He was inducted into the Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame in 2020 and was named Coach of the Year in Kentucky in 2014.
He went out with a bang, leading the Pioneers to the state tournament this past season and finished 27-14. He called this group “like his own kids”, having coached the majority of them since they were 9-10 years old with their At the Yard summer ball club.
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The past season was a microcosm of how Roberts led the program over the past 12 years. He’s an old school mentality type of coach that was still able to relate to current day student-athletes in a social media driven, look at me world.
“That all goes back to being real with them,” Roberts said. “Being truthful with my players, didn’t lie to them. The more truthful and real you are with them creates a trust. I was hard on our players, coached them hard, wanted them mentally tough and played tough. They bought in and loved it. You build relationships with the players and they’ll run through a wall and do anything they can for you.”
Roberts will stay on as the school’s athletic director and Title IX coordinator. The school has posted the opening and the hope is to have a coach by September when fall workouts will start up.