Joe Kroc has been involved in all levels of baseball in Austin and now he’s ready for the next challenge as he will take over as the head coach of the Packer baseball team next spring.

Kroc grew up playing All-Stars baseball in Austin, he played two years on the Packer baseball team, he played baseball at St. Cloud State University, he played for the Austin Blue Sox and Austin Greyhounds and he has coached the Austin Post 91 Legion baseball team.

That baseball background gives Kroc some help as he follows in the footsteps of many of the coaches that he grew up around, including Gabby Weiss, Troy Watkins and Don Leathers.

“Those are all different coaches that a lot of kids from Austin played for and those coaches had a lot of success,” Kroc said. “I’m trying to get back to having success and it’s great to know those people and have support from them. Being from Austin is a plus to know that there’s support and there is a rich baseball history here.”

The Austin Post 91 Legion baseball team advanced to the state tournament last summer and it took second place in the District this summer under the coaching of Kroc and Andy Swank, who will also be Kroc’s varsity assistant next spring.

Kroc, who graduated from AHS in 2004, credited Swank and the many coaches he played under for showing him different coaching philosophies over the years. He’s also looking forward to coaching for his old high school.

“It’s a great opportunity and it’s a privilege to do it,” Kroc said. “I’m hoping that we can come out and compete. So much of baseball is predicated on match ups pitching wise and the biggest thing you can do is compete. Hopefully it’ll give us a shot at the end of the year, whether its for the Big Nine or a section title.”

Kroc has spent plenty of time around the Austin Legion and VFW teams this summer and he’s hoping to have an impact on the youth programs as well. He’s excited about the possibility of working with incoming team and he’d like to incorporate the use of the new seasonal Dome as much as possible.

“There’s definitely some talent, but we’re inexperienced,” Kroc said. “A lot of guys don’t have a lot of hitting experience against varsity caliber pitching and that’s hard to simulate. We’re going to try and get our kids as many as live at bats as possible under the dome to give our kids a jump on the rest of the Big Nine.”

Chris Gogolewski had coached the Packers to a 23-39 record over the past three seasons.