The esteemed Senator: Roberts resigns after 30 seasons with Washington Township baseball

As a baseball coach, Randy Roberts was widely hailed for doing more with less, an old-school, fundamental approach that not only bridged the game to outside the lines, but withstood changes both in the sport and the players.

"He was so good about not only teaching the game, but teaching life, how you need to man up in certain situations," former player and long-time assistant Christian Lembke said. "I think the boys will appreciate it once they leave. You don't get it when you're playing. You're like, why is he the way he is? From a former player's standpoint, I know exactly what it is. It's going to help you not only in baseball but in life. I think he's one of the best coaches when it comes to that. I think if you talk to 99 percent of Washington Township baseball players, they would say the same thing."

The challenge was always something Roberts relished, but his 30th season with the Senators proved to be different.

"I made a career out of taking teams that weren't as talented," Roberts said. "A lot of those PCC championships, there were one or two when we were actually a favorite going in. I always thought, when people came to our field, it would be the best field they've played on all year long. I expected us be the best coached team they played against, not that we were going to win or be better. The product was not what I expected, and at the end of the day, I'm in charge. The things the Senators were known for were not there. Again, that's on me. They're good kids, I just don't feel I was getting through to them. I wouldn't say I did a good job coaching this season."

Randy Roberts, left, led Washington Township to the Class A state championship in 2021.

With that in mind, Roberts made the decision to hang up the trademark pinstripes and curly W and resign as Senators coach.

"It's a different environment," he said. "The travel ball mentality has really taken it over. I was always consumed by, what can I do to get us better, to get this guy better? I'm still consumed over it. Since we won state, I've tried to turn it around back to where were, but I've never able to. I worked my ass off for 30 years, I poured my heart into it, the Senators stood for something when people came town, they knew what was coming. I'm an old, stubborn man. The things I believe need to be done, the way we've been successful to get those done, weren't happening. The last half of the season, it started hitting me that things weren't going the way I expect things to go."

Still, the decision was not an easy one for Roberts, who surpassed 500 wins this season, a number he would have never knows if he hadn't had to research it for the IHSAA state finals program in 2021. He had previously planned to coach two more years and give it up when he retired from teaching.

"I still enjoy the classroom, I still enjoy the kids, coaching," he said. "Andy (Dessuit), some of the older guys would come to games, they'd tell me what they thought. Usually they'd say, that's coaching. They didn't try to dissuade me. I thought, maybe I could've changed some things. They say I'm too easy on them now. They have a fit. I could've brought in another coach with a little different eye, voice. A lot of things go into it. There are 20 good reasons why it's time, then my heart starts thinking about things. I have hard time truly justifying this is it, this is the way. I wish I could stop thinking about it. I'm sitting here thinking I should have gone back."

In some ways, Roberts saw himself as a baseball version of Bob Knight, and didn't want to risk out-staying his welcome.

"I kept thinking to myself, especially toward the end of the season, when they ran him out at Indiana, he knew it was time to go, but he didn't, and it ended up bad," he said. "I've been in trouble, (a superintendent) had me thrown in jail, the easiest thing would have been to resign before that all went on and not fight, not have attorney fees. There was never a doubt in my mind, I was going back. That ball field, there was always middle school season, other schools would contact me about openings, I've got seventh grade boys, things made it impossible to leave. I was too attached, too much invested. If they were to call in two months, they've got nobody, I probably would (go back), but that's not going to happen."

Rumors swirled that Roberts would ride off into the sunset after winning state in 2021, but he never considered it.

"There's more luck involved than any of us want to admit," he said. "Sometimes they hit it at you, sometimes they don't. The state championship team was not my most talented, but they had an intangible that no other team had. The formula for winning is simple, but it's not easy to find simple. I didn't believe we would win again, but get back (past) sectionals and beyond. If I was 40 or 45, I never would have quit. I don't like being a quitter. It was difficult to give a decision to the AD. I was pretty torn. I'm torn now. My heart is in that place. This is what I do. Who we are is what we are. I coach baseball, I teach kids, I go home to my dogs. It's not as if the weight of the world is off my shoulders."

Though he's been Roberts' assistant for 13 years, Lembke had no inkling he was going to resign.

"Everybody thinks I had some inside information. Randy's not the kind of guy to share that stuff with anybody," Lembke said. "We all thought he would retire when he was ready to be done teaching as well. It just came out of nowhere. The end of the season came, it kind of all happened at once. It's a difficult decision because he loves the community, he loves the boys, he loves that field. I think it's a different type of game now. We try to teach certain ways to hit and pitch. Nowadays, you have to cater to everybody who's going and getting pitching lessons and playing with this or that travel team. We never clicked this season when it came to hitting. I think that frustrated him the most that he was at a loss when it came to what I have to do to get these guys to hit."

Lembke, who started with Roberts when he was in sixth grade, had taken a JV boys basketball position with Boone Grove prior to the decision.

"I'm going to miss coaching with him very much," he said. "He's been there for 30 and I've either been on the team or coaching for 20. He's like a father figure to me, and is that way to all the other boys. He's meant so much to us and to the school. I don't think you will ever find someone who loves a game as much as he does. All the things he does is unbelievable. He understood the numbers situation, how we are at Washington when it comes to baseball. They're probably not going to have a JV team next season. In my personal opinion, he's just exhausted, he's put everything he's got into it."

Christian Lembke, right, spent 20 years with Randy Roberts at Washington Township, seven as aplayer and 13 as an assistant coach. "He's like a father figure to me, and is that way to all the other boys," he said. "He's meant so much to us and to the school."

Roberts will spend some time this summer following his son Max, who pitches for the White Sox's AA affiliate in Birmingham.

"He's still hanging on," he said. "It's not an easy game on the business side or the playing side. They called him after spring training. Their coordinator was in town last week. He told Max he told the White Sox he demonstrated he could get outs at three levels. He needed to be invited, but they didn't. Birmingham's probably got the best pitching in all of Minor League Baseball. They have a lot of arms. He'll pitch once, twice a week. Time is short. He has start blowing people away. He has the lefty advantage. He's getting close."

After word of his resignation got around, Roberts received a text from former Washington A.D. Ryan Cunningham that simply read 'Publix.'

"I worked in a grocery store two years before college," he said. "I loved grocery stores. We joked about it, I always thought I'd like to go to Florida and work in a Publix, a Winn Dixie."

Lembke hopes the school honors Roberts by naming the field after him.

"That needs to be Randy Roberts Field," he said. "He maintains all the Little League fields, which is why it is the way it is. I don't really know if everyone understood how much time that guy put in. I hope they do. I always said he had four kids, and the fourth child was those ball fields. Where is he? He's spending time with his fourth kid, mowing, working on the field. Nobody understands all the sacrifices you have to make, how many games of his kids he missed. He had three kids (Sophia, Max and William), but he had a thousand more when it came to players. I don't think he would change it for the world."