A Tradition of Excellence; PVI Baseball Camps

The numbers don't lie. They are WCAC champs two out of the past three years. They are Virginia state champs three out of the past six years. They are nationally ranked three out of the past five years. They have 10 championships in the past six years and have sent 38 players to the collegiate level in the past seven years. They have become one of the most dominant high school baseball programs in the United States, and they are led by Billy Emerson.

Before making Paul VI's baseball program into a local and national powerhouse, Billy Emerson was just a ballplayer from Vienna, Virginia. He played high school baseball at Madison High, graduated to Montgomery College Rockville before transferring to George Mason University (GMU) to complete his college career. After GMU, Emerson played one season of minor league ball in the Independent Frontier League in 1994. He was offered a contract by the Gray's Harbor (WA) Gulls in the 'AA' Western League and was on the verge of becoming a replacement player during the MLB strike of 1994-95. Emerson, however, never took the final step so many young boys dream of growing up.

"Right before the season began, I decided to call it quits and finish my degree at Mason," Emerson said. "I also wanted to get married, so moving on with life in the real world was the best decision I ever made. I was a mid-to-upper 80s MPH right-handed pitcher (so I was a dime-a-dozen type of minor leaguer)."

Although Emerson left the field as a player, it wasn't long before he stepped back on as a coach. He had coaching stints with Annandale and Madison high schools before taking on a "fledgling" program at TC Williams in 1997.

"I was told by many other coaches not to take the job because it was a no-win situation, but I wanted to be a head coach really bad," Emerson said. "In my second year, we fell one game short of the VHSL State Tournament and had the best season in school history."

Emerson ended up leaving TC Williams because he wanted to get into the Fairfax County School system, which also brought him closer to home. He took a job at Annandale High before leaving the following year to become the assistant athletic director at his Alma mater, Madison High School

"It was a job I could not pass up," Emerson said. "I really wanted to be back at my hometown school. I learned a great deal from that job, too, in terms of being a better organizer and manager, although the one drawback was not being able to coach full time. I coached in the summer and helped out a Madison when I could, but I missed being a head coach."

It wasn't long until Emerson got his wish. During the summer of 2002, just weeks after he helped guide Madison to a 29-0 season and a No. 3 ranking nationwide as an assistant, Emerson began thinking about quiting his job as an assistant athletic director so he could become a head coach.

"On July 3, 2002, I was rushing around Vienna, running errands and picking up items for my family’s Fourth of July party when I was pulled over by a Vienna cop. It was an officer that I had known for years, and in lieu of giving me a speeding ticket, he wanted to talk a little baseball."

Emerson learned that Madison's Coach, Mark "Pudge" Gjormand, was going to leave the school for a job at Paul VI.

"Pudge told me that he had been approached and while it was tempting to look into coaching in the private school arena, he was staying put," Emerson said. "Knowing how I felt about coaching again, he suggested I look into it and he put the PVI search committee in touch with me. When they found out about my baseball background, they became very interested."

Emerson saw Paul VI as an "untapped goldmine" and interviewed for the job.

"I really thought with the right approach, the right people and a lot of hard work, PVI could be a really competitive program."

Emerson couldn't have been more right. Despite being the fourth baseball coach at Paul VI within a three-year span, Emerson went to work in hopes of turning around a program that finished six games under .500 the year before. He preached accountability, discipline and organization and discussed his intentions of building a powerhouse baseball program that produced championships, college players and excellent young men.

"Parents were rolling their eyes, as if to say 'we’ve heard all this before.' You really can’t blame them after the inconsistency they had been through," Emerson continued. "We had to draw a line in the sand with some players and although we all hate having to cut kids, the old way had to go. Our guys were held accountable for everything on and off the field, and it was a bit of a culture shock at the beginning."

It didn't take long for the results Emerson promised to start appearing. In 2003, Emerson's first season under the helm, Paul VI finished 17-12. The following year Paul VI finished with the same record, but they were also VISBA State Champions. In 2005, Emerson led PVI to a 26-win season, which was the most victories any Paul VI baseball team had finished with since the program's inception in 1984. The Panthers finished second in the WCAC and made it to the state semifinals. In 2006, Paul VI won 24 games, reached the WCAC finals and the state finals. The following year, Emerson's finally took Paul VI to the next level, winning the WCAC as the team won a school-best 27 games. In 2008, Paul VI won 27 games and the state championship, which was followed by both the WCAC championship and the Virgina state championship just last week.

Despite being the obvious reason for the program's success, Emerson is quick to deflect any credit thrown his way. He points to great baseball families, great players, a supportive administration and coaching staff.

"I’ve had pretty much the same staff together for seven years," Emerson said. "In fact, all of our coaches this year with the exception of one JV assistant have been with me anywhere from five to seven years. Our seven-year veteran JV coaches Steve Segar and Steve Robinson do everything right in terms of developing our kids for the next levels of baseball and life. My varsity staff is the best around."

"My two younger assistants (Tad Davidovich/Tony Salgado) both played for me, so they know exactly what I want. Tony handles our catchers, and we just found out he produced our second first team All-Met catcher (Chad Morgan) in the past four years. Tad handles the infielders and has produced a half dozen NCAA Division I infielders."

"My pitching coach Jeff Nolan is 10 years older than me and provides us with a wealth of knowledge going back to his days as an NCAA Champion under the legendary John Scolinos at Cal Poly. Jeff is the reason why we have so much quality pitching every year. And our oldest assistant Paul Ciatti played at SJC in the 50’s where he was a legend and hall of famer. Paul focuses on the outfielders and bunting."

And during a time where the Major Leagues are infested with steroids, cheating has become a way of the game and recruiting players with dirty tactics are more common than not, Emerson stresses that his program is 100 percent legit.

"We present a program that kids and parents want to be a part of. We don’t necessarily 'recruit' anyone," Emerson said. "I think many times we are recruited. We make no promises. What you see is what you get."

"When families are considering PVI, we will talk to them at great length about what we have to offer. We don’t talk about or compare ourselves to other schools and we are totally transparent. We are also very careful not to “overload” or have a potential student-athlete come here under false pretenses."

Emerson said that many of the players that join his program come to his camps or hear about PVI baseball by word of mouth.

"Early on you could say we were on the hunt for talent, but now I think people know what to expect if they come here. Plus the whole 'recruiting game' at the high school level is a little ridiculous to me at times. Again what you see here is what you get. The proof is in the pudding, so to speak. And our number one interest is helping kids, period. We love to win, but we love to see kids win as they become superb young men. You can ask any kid who has played here for us and he’ll tell you the real deal."

And just because Emerson has led Paul VI to back-to-back Virginia state titles, two WCAC championships and an outstanding reputation in the high school baseball world, doesn't mean he's going to stop any time soon.

"Until we go unbeaten and win the national championship in some poll, we can always get better," Emerson said. "My plans are to be here for a while. I’ve looked into coaching in college and even working full-time as a pro scout, but being close to home, being able to spend time with my family and not uprooting them are all really important to me. I see more great things to come at PVI."

Judging by his success so far, chances are Emerson won't be let down.