Oak Harbor High School will have a new head baseball coach for the 2009 season with Tyson Van Dam replacing Jim Waller, who retired after 30 seasons in the third base coaching box.

Van Dam, a 2001 graduate of OHHS, played collegiate baseball at Edmonds Community College and also for the University of North Carolina-Pembroke, where he graduated with a degree in exercise and sports science.

Van Dam said he was a pitcher at both schools and improving the Wildcat pitching staff is one of his major goals.

“I’m hoping we can build up the pitching staff,” he said. “It has been one of our weak areas over the past few years.”

Van Dam said he got the person he wanted to coach the junior varsity team in Jeremy Day, a councilor at the high school, who was also a pitcher.

“We are hoping to get back to working on some of the baseball basics for the younger kids,” he said.

Van Dam is putting his sports education and experience to good use here in town at Thrive Fitness Center where he works as a personal trainer.

Oak Harbor Athletic Director Nicki Luper said there were four candidates who applied for the position.

One of them took a job in Boise, Idaho, because he was from that area, and another withdrew his application.

“We interviewed two candidates and Van Dam was our choice,” Luper said. “We think he will be the best fit for our kids and our program, and we’re glad to have him on board.”