Photo by Erin Nelson
Spain Park head coach Chris Laatsch talks with the Jags during the second half of the AHSAA Class 7A boys Northeast Regional Semifinal against Sparkman at Pete Matthews Coliseum on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022. The Jags defeated Sparkman 59-46 to advance to the Northeast Regional Final on Feb. 21. Photo by Erin Nelson.
HOOVER -- A familiar quote has resonated strongly with Chris and Leigh Laatsch in recent days.
“How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard,” the quote from A.A. Milne reads.
That adequately describes, even if it doesn’t fully encapsulate, the emotions surrounding the next move for the couple.
On Thursday, Chris Laatsch was approved as the next boys basketball coach at Orange Beach High School, following six years at Spain Park. The hire was made official at the Orange Beach City Schools board meeting.
“I don’t know if you could pick five places that I would leave Spain Park for,” Laatsch said. “Orange Beach had an opportunity and I think it’s a really good one.”
Laatsch said he was certainly not looking to leave Spain Park, a program he rebuilt and took to three consecutive state final fours.
“It’s so good here with the administration and our facilities, and most importantly, the people that I get to be with every day. That’s what makes it so hard to leave. But the excitement of what’s next is extremely exciting and there’s an opportunity to try and do something great,” he said.
There is the reality of mixed emotions for the Laatsch family as well. For Laatsch and his wife, Leigh, they are leaving an area they have called home for much of their lives. Much of their family — which includes seven children and 10 grandchildren — still lives in town.
“This is the area we raised our children,” Leigh Laatsch said. “It was a very unique opportunity to be able to pour into a place we all connected with because of that. The people and the administrators at Spain Park, it is such a reward to have support like that.”
Orange Beach High is in its fourth year of existence, so Chris Laatsch will get the chance to do something he has proven adept at, taking a program from its foundation and bringing stability and success. A new $46 million athletics complex is being built and should be completed by the 2025-26 school year.
After 16 successful years at Briarwood, Laatsch started the program at Helena and quickly built it into a contender in his four years there. At Spain Park, he rebuilt a program that had fallen on hard times and won big once again. He also spent four years as an assistant UMS-Wright.
At Orange Beach, the task is one he has faced before.
“You have to get buy-in,” he said. “I’ve got to cast a vision, get people on the bus and get a staff. That’s the challenge and the exciting part for me, getting people to trust me and build those relationships.”
Laatsch’s basketball acumen is unquestioned. He’s taken six teams to the state final four and has accumulated 496 wins as a head coach. But he and his wife have always thought of the job as much more.
“Being married to a basketball coach is such a blessing, because wherever Chris has coached, it’s been part of our life journey together. Different places where he’s coached, God has always used those experiences to teach us more about how we can be the best God has called us to be to reach these student-athletes, families and communities,” Leigh Laatsch said.
Chris Laatsch joins a few other coaches with experience in Hoover schools, as former Spain Park girls basketball coach Mike Chase and former Hoover football coach Wade Waldrop are now at Orange Beach as well.
He will begin his tenure with the Makos on June 1.
“He’s passionate about what he does and I am passionate about supporting him where he goes,” Leigh Laatsch said. “This is just the next part of our journey.”
