North Bay Haven has announced the hiring of former Rutherford High School coach Cody Chizmar as its new head baseball coach.
Chizmar succeeds Dustin Rennspies, who stepped down as the Buccaneers' coach to focus on his duties as athletic director. Chizmar has been a mainstay in Bay County baseball over the last decade, working as an assistant at Mosley between 2011-14 before spending a year at Bay High and then going on to lead the Rams as head coach from 2017-19.
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The Bay High alum spent the 2022 season as an assistant with the Buccaneers and now moves back into the role of head coach for a program that went 10-14 this year and has a talented young core returning led by freshman Lakota Johnson, who led the team with a .426 batting average while going 3-2 with a 2.49 ERA on the mound.
North Bay Haven had several other young players who got quality varsity experience this season such as freshmen Ethan Jeung and Elijah Dunyak and eighth graders Peyton Williams and Adam Land, who led the team with a 2.31 ERA.
Chizmar said those promising young players played a major role in his decision to take the head coaching job.
"That's the biggest reason I'm doing this," he said. "It wouldn't have even crossed my mind if I didn't know (how much young talent NBH has). They're young kids who are eager to work and eager to get better. They give an outstanding amount of effort and that's all you can ask of a team. Win or lose, you've got to go out and play the best you can and give it your best shot and the kids on this team, they really care about it. They want to get better and they want to win."
They also already have a relationship with Chizmar thanks to his year as a Buccaneers assistant, which he said should make the transition to the top job that much smoother.
"It's for sure easier," he said. "I would say that just me having a real good relationship with the majority of them, that's it. They know me well enough to know that I won't let them slack off. I'll push them as much as I think they can be pushed. They'll give back what I need and expect from them and they know I'll hold them to that."
Chizmar went 34-48 in his three seasons at Rutherford, making the playoffs in 2017 and 2019. He won a district championship and a playoff game in his final season with the Rams.
As a player Chizmar played at Gulf Coast after high school and went on to play at Auburn University at Montgomery.