WASECA, MINN. – Gene Glynn will be back where he was three decades earlier, coaching high school lads in basketball in Minnesota's mid-south, when practice commences for the St. Clair Cyclones' 2021-22 season in November.
It has been a winding trail from Mankato Loyola's Crusaders to the Cyclones for Glynn, remembered by most Minnesota sports followers for being a baseball man, remembered by many fewer as the first winner of the state's "Mr. Basketball" award for Waseca in 1975.
Glynn followed that with basketball and baseball stardom for what was then Mankato State from 1975 to 1979. He was signed out of college for the Montreal Expos by Bob Gebhard, the pride of Lamberton, Minn.
There were mainly TV glimpses of Glynn for Minnesota fans after that, on an MLB package or the late, lamented "Baseball Tonight": Glynn waving home runners as the third base coach for the Rockies (1995-98), the Cubs (2000-2002) or the Giants (2003-06).
Come 2012, you could find occasional Glynn quotes in the Twin Cities media as manager of the Rochester Red Wings, the Twins' Class AAA club.
Glynn received one of the interviews in October 2014 after Ron Gardenhire was fired as manager. Paul Molitor had a lock on that from the get-go, but it worked out for Glynn. He was Molitor's third base coach for four seasons.
Molitor was fired in October 2018 by baseball CEO Derek Falvey. Glynn also went, although not based on decisions to send or stop runners.
"There's a theory for third base coaches that's been around a long time: 'When in doubt, send him,' " Glynn said.