A new building and a fresh start for students at Union High School, but when the Titans went looking for a varsity baseball coach they turned to an old pro. Former Mariners' catcher Tom Lampkin.

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"I knew that coaching at this level or at the college level would some day come up and the opportunity a few years later came up at a school that was new, an opportunity to start a whole new program and it seemed like a pretty good fit," Lampkin said.

Lampkin spent 13 years in the Major Leagues, three of them with Seattle. He retired after the 2002 season.

"At first I kinda wanted to get as far away from baseball as I could."

But after five years on the proverbial bench, Lampkin was ready to get back in.

"For the most part it was more attractive you know we were kind of starting our own tradition and you got to start from scratch there wasn't the quote unquote fix the old problems."

But a brand new school has its challenges too, the Titans are a young team, with no seniors on the roster.

Lampkin says the learning curve was a little steeper than he originally thought.

"Its just fun to teach them those things, because its fun when they figure them out and they do them and execute them or they get it. that's fun its fun to see the kids learn that."

Outfielder Caleb Virtue says most of the players were pretty excited when they found out who their new coach was going to be.

"Coach Lampkin being a catcher he knows the game real well, and he's very active when he coaches, he throws batting practice. he'll run with us, so its nice he's really into the game."

Lampkin doesn't talk about his playing days much, and the kids don't really ask. They're happy just to soak it all in.

"They think its neat that they get an opportunity to play for guy that might be able to teach them some things beyond regular, what you might learn in high school."