THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Sunday, October 25, 2015

Former St. Maries High volleyball coach Mitch Santos still takes in some of his old program’s matches from time to time.

He might jot down a note or two during a match, then pop in at practice a time or two during the season to help the team shore up some areas he might have seen that needed a little work.

But outside of that, the 63-year-old Santos is keeping plenty busy in “retirement.”

“I’ve pretty much been salmon fishing, mainly,” said Santos, who is part of a group being inducted into the Inland Northwest Sports Hall of Fame on Tuesday at the Spokane Arena. “In July and August, I was pretty much in my boat, or in my shop. I was trolling for those king salmon, and those sockeye that come in over at Brewster. They closed the season early this year because the water got too warm. But they still left the king season open, we caught some good fishes. We caught quite a few fish there, and I caught quite a few fish at Lewiston also. That’s my entertainment. I love it. The salmon run up the Columbia is amazing.”

In his shop, he and his wife, Shelley “pretty much make anything that goes inside of a cabin,” he said. For a few years after his varsity volleyball coaching days were over, he was in the wood furniture business with another St. Maries High coach, Craig Wicks. Now, Santos sells products to the visitors centers at state parks, and also does wood projects for a gallery in Coeur d’Alene.

SANTOS POSTED a career record of 527-62 in 22 seasons as St. Maries High volleyball coach. He won 11 state titles, including 10 in a row from 1984-93. At one point, the Lumberjacks won 145 straight matches. He resigned following the 2000 season.

He expressed thanks to the St. Maries community, as well as to the loyalty of the two assistant coaches he had during his tenure — Steve Konkright, and then Todd Gilkey.

Browsing through the Hall of Fame information, two names caught his eye — Irene Matlock and Pam Parks, “the two people I modeled my program after,” he said. Parks and Matlock built the Sandpoint High program into a state power in the late 1970s and early ’80s. Matlock is also in the Hall of Fame; Parks, who probably should be, is on the nominating committee.

“When I first started, Sandpoint was THE program in the state,” Santos said. “I remember my first year, going up and playing Sandpoint, we did OK against other teams, and Sandpoint, they were pretty much playing at a different level. And I saw some of the things that they were doing, and it took us 2-3 years, but we got to the point where we were getting more competitive with them, and we had some great battles with them throughout the years.”

Sandpoint won six of its state titles in the 1980s, including five in a row from 1982-86. During that time, it might not have been a stretch to say that Sandpoint and St. Maries were the two best volleyball teams in the state, regardless of classification.

“Plus, their JV team was one of the best teams in the state,” Santos said, “and our JV team was probably one of the better teams, too.”

SANTOS SAID the biggest changes in the sport since he left — more teams playing club volleyball in the offseason, and the switch from sideout to rally scoring.

“To be able to do what we did now would be very difficult,” Santos said. “There’s a lot more parity in all the teams.”

And rally score?

“I think it’s really helped teams in general, and especially the weaker teams, because they get to play more,” Santos said. “It’s 3 out of 5 (instead of 2 out of 3 sets, as it was in sideout scoring) … there’s more volleyball that’s being played than in the old days. We had a lot of games where our warmups lasted as long as the entire match.”

After stepping down as varsity coach, Santos took a few years off from coaching, then coached St. Maries’ junior high teams for a couple of stints. This year’s seniors on the Lumberjacks squad were on the last junior high team he coached, as eighth-graders.

Santos hopes to be able to watch the Lumberjacks play this Friday and Saturday at the state 2A volleyball tournament at Lakeland High. He couldn’t make it last Thursday, when St. Maries won the District 1-2 title at Troy — he had a deal to make 15 wooden cribbage boards by Monday, and he still had four left to do.

“I’m probably as busy right now as when I was teaching and coaching,” Santos said. “Between the fishing and the working in the shop, I have plenty to do.”

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.