Todd Melton , Oak Ridge High School Baseball Coach
El Dorado Sports Page: For those of readers who have not lived in the El Dorado County area for very long, how many years have you been coaching and where have you coached?
Melton: This will be my 12 th year of coaching, the first at Oak Ridge HS. My career record is 112-55 in 6 years at Laguna Creek, including a Delta League Title.
El Dorado Sports Page: Did you play any high school or college sports? Where did you attend school and what sports did you play?
Melton: I was an All-League QB and INF at Tracy HS. I went on to play baseball at Delta JC and Sac State .
El Dorado Sports Page: What do you feel is your greatest accomplishment as a coach?
Melton: Helping 6 of my former players at Laguna Creek in achieving there personal goals of playing professional baseball.
El Dorado Sports Page: Is there someone in your life, as a kid or as an adult, who inspired you to get into coaching?
Melton: Coming from Tracy HS, which at the time was a powerful football school, many of us were influenced by our head football coach, Wayne Schneider. He had a positive impact on our lives.
El Dorado Sports Page: What is your coaching philosophy, if you have one?
Melton: Be prepared, be aggressive, respect the game and compete with dignity
El Dorado Sports Page: What is it that you enjoy most about coaching?
Melton: The personal relationships with the players and coaches and achieving our goals as a team.
El Dorado Sports Page: If your players could tell us something about you that only they would know (a routine, a superstition, etc), what would that be?
Melton: They can't say…because “what happens with the team stays with the team”. We're superstitious that way.
El Dorado Sports Page: For those who have not seen your team play this year, what would you like people to know about the players on your team? Who should we be looking for?
Melton: They are showing lots of growth as a team and they've had their noses to the grindstone, grinding away, working hard, striving to reach there goals. I think you should be looking at all 21 members of the team as it seems that we have different players stepping up at any given time.
El Dorado Sports Page: Does your team have a rival?
Melton: Apparently the Ponderosa games in all sports attract huge crowds, so I would say them but really, everyone in our league guns for Oak Ridge . Perhaps the better answer is the whole league.
El Dorado Sports Page: How many more years would you like to coach?
Melton: I see no end to my coaching career as of right now.