Kids often grow up with their parents as coaches, but for Baker University student athletes Andrew and Aaron Hannon, the coaching has continued into college.
While head baseball coach Phil Hannon still coaches his oldest son Andrew, a junior at Baker University. Andrew Hannon said he receives no special attention on the baseball field. This experience is no different than when Phil Hannon coached both of his sons on their summer baseball teams.
“My dad has taught me a lot, not just in sports but everything,” Andrew Hannon said. “He’s helped me going through school and life, just like any dad would do.”
Both Phil Hannon and Andrew Hannon said Andrew Hannon wouldn’t have gone to college anywhere else in the Heart of America Athletic Conference so he wouldn’t have to play against his dad’s team. The two also agreed Andrew Hannon shouldn’t be treated differently than anyone else on the team. Andrew said instead of calling his father “dad,” he refers to him as coach.
“He has to treat me as any other player on the team, and I have to respect him the same,” Andrew Hannon said.
Phil Hannon was a two-sport athlete at Baker, playing both football and baseball from 1982-1986. He took over the baseball coaching position in July 1999 after spending five years coaching in the Chicago Cubs organization. He said he loves Baker and also loves that his sons attend Baker, but was surprised both ended up here.
“I thought they would want to branch out and do their own thing,” Phil Hannon said.
Another of Phil Hannon’s sons, freshman Aaron Hannon, is on the track and field team as a hurdler.
“I grew up here so I knew a lot about Baker, and I knew a lot of people here, so I knew it was the right place,” Aaron Hannon said.