Owyhee lost one legendary baseball coach. His replacement comes with more than 350 wins
Russ Wright retired last month after leading Owyhee to a third straight state championship. But the Storm didn’t need to look far for a decorated coach to lead their baseball program.
Former Mountain View coach Matt Rasmussen will take over the new powerhouse, returning to the diamond after two seasons away. The West Ada school board finalized the hire Monday.
Rasmussen brings a career record of 361-234 (.607), all at the 5A level, to the Treasure Valley’s newest high school. He previously founded and led the Mountain View program for 19 years, building it into a perennial contender.
“He steps into big shoes, obviously, after winning three straight,” Owyhee Athletic Director Dane Roy said. “But it’s nothing he shies away from. He’s been on the biggest stage.”
Rasmussen stepped down from Mountain View after the 2022 season to follow his two sons and their college baseball careers at nearby schools. But they’ve both since transferred to larger programs farther away, and Rasmussen got the itch to coach again.
“I needed to take a couple years off,” Rasmussen, 52, said. “I needed to be around my wife and my daughter. I needed to have the opportunity to watch my boys as much as I could.
“I needed to do that. But there was a void. I needed to be a part of something bigger.”
Rasmussen actually spent the past two years at Owyhee, teaching physical education and serving as the school’s assistant athletic director. So he knows the program and doesn’t expect to make many changes.
Wright and Rasmussen date back to the early 2000s, when they battled as rivals at Minico and Twin Falls high schools, respectively. Wright wrote a letter of recommendation for Rasmussen when he was hired at Mountain View, and the 11-time state champ recommended him again at Owyhee.
“I feel like the things I believe in and what I bring to the table are similar,” Rasmussen said. “We’re from that same mold, that same era.”
Rasmussen led Mountain View to the state tournament nine times in 19 seasons, including a championship and one of the most dominant seasons in Idaho history in 2019. He was also named the 5A SIC coach of the year five times, including each of his final four full seasons.
“He just had a ton of years of experience, and tons of years of success — sustained success,” Roy said. “He still has a lot of energy and had an awesome vision for the future of Owyhee baseball.”
Rasmussen said that vision includes building an indoor hitting facility, finishing the Storm’s practice field and establishing a summer program. The upstart program does not have the facilities many of its competitors rely on, something Rasmussen aims to change.
That hasn’t slowed Owyhee down on the field, though. The third-year school won its third straight state championship in May, becoming the first baseball team to three-peat at the 5A level since Boise in 1996-98.
“If there was a program that I would have wanted to take over, it would have been this one, based on the culture (Wright has) established from the get-go,” Rasmussen said. “It’s a hard thing to build, and he built it.
“So it’s my job to come in and keep it going.”
This story was originally published June 13, 2024 at 1:06 PM.
