Head Coach Daron Connelly is entering his 2nd year at the helm of the Alta Baseball program. He's entering his 6th year with the Canyons School District having been the head coach at Corner Canyon High School from 2013 to 2017. He has been a head coach at various levels across three states (California, Arizona, & Utah) since 1990, even serving as a volunteer assistant coach at Los Angeles Valley College where he was also played in 1983 & 1984. He then went on to play for ABCA Hall of Fame Coach Andy Lopez at California State University, Dominguez Hills. While there, the Toros reached national prominence achieving a national ranking as high as fourth. Coach Connelly was a pitcher for the Toros and never suffered a loss on the mound while at CSUDH compiling a two-year record of 8-0 with 5 saves his junior and senior seasons. That success led to signing a professional player contract with the San Francisco Giants. Coach Connelly played in the Giants minor-league system until he made the decision to purse a career in coaching.
Coach Connelly came to Utah to start the program at Corner Canyon High School, the newest high school in the Canyons School District. By the third year of the program's existence, the Chargers had made the playoffs and were one pitch from playing for a 4A state title but came up a little short as they finished in 3rd place in 2016. The next year the Chargers made another good showing finishing 5th. Coach Connelly made the decision to move up the road to Alta for the 2018 season when the head coaching position opened up. Coach Connelly has had three daughters graduate from Alta and currently has three daughters who are students at Alta. Another reason to make the move was to have the opportunity to serve the Hawks athletic department as an Assistant Athletic Director. He also teaches TV Broadcasting & Video Production, Accounting, Financial Literacy, and Exploring Computer Science, as well as overseeing the Internship class at Alta.
Forrest Dupre, born in Washington D.C., spent his teen years in Concord, MA. Forrest graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (BA 1972) and the University of San Francisco School of Law (JD 1976). Forrest practiced law for 38 years including as an attorney and shareholder at Charne, Clancy & Taitelman s.c. in Milwaukee (1976-1992), general counsel (7 years) and then employee benefits business manager (6 years) at Marshall & Ilsley Trust Company (1992-2005) and then general counsel at SunGard Brokerage and Wealth Management in suburban Chicago from 2005 until retiring in 2014. While practicing law in Milwaukee, Forrest frequently spoke to Milwaukee area high school government classes on freedom of speech and the 1st Amendment.
After one year as an amateur pitcher of limited physical ability, Forrest coached Little League (1977-1982) where he won 5 division championships in 6 years and then Senior League (1983-1984). Forrest was then asked to be the pitching coach at Nicolet High School in suburban Milwaukee. While Forrest served under 2 head coaches from 1985 to 1994, Nicolet (playing in Wisconsin’s toughest high school baseball conference) won 79% of its games including 6 conference championships, the Wisconsin State Championship in 1985 and a loss in the state semi-finals in 1993. Players that Forrest has coached include Lance Painter, who spent 10 years as a major league pitcher and is currently pitching coach of the Tacoma Rainiers (AAA affiliate of the Seattle Mariners), and scholarship starters at many universities including Arkansas, Northwestern, Michigan, Eastern Kentucky and Minnesota State. Forrest also worked from 1995 to 1999 for ProManage, an agency that represented professional baseball players, where he did statistical analysis and wrote briefs for major league player arbitration hearings. He was a member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) from 1986 to 2000. Forrest is a member of the Federalist Society and an avid reader of United States history, particularly the period of the American Revolution and the founding of the United States. The loves of his life are his wife Louise, their 5 children and 8 grandchildren, the Boston Red Sox and the Wisconsin Badgers (not necessarily in that order according to Louise). |
Nick Merges is originally from Rochester, MN and played catcher for Century High School and the Rochester A’s. He quickly pursued coaching as a freshman in college and was hired as Head Coach of the Rochester Stars VFW summer league team where he coached for 4 seasons, in addition to assisting with the Legion program (Rochester A’s) head JV and catchers coach for Rochester Century High School. He has coached under very experienced and accomplished staffs including longtime coach Keith Kangas whose resume includes 2003 MN State and Legion National Champions, multiple state tournament appearances, and 3 MLB draft picks.
He moved to Salt Lake City in 2016 and joined coach Daron Connelly’s staff at Corner Canyon High School in Draper, UT as a Head Sophomore and catchers coach. He moved to Alta High School with coach Connelly and Rongstad in 2017 and this is his 3rd year on staff. Other coaching experience includes football JV Defensive Coordinator and Varsity linebackers coach for 3 years at Winona High School, along with various youth camps and clinics in Winona and Rochester, MN He is a 5th grade teacher at Sandy Elementary. He graduated from Winona State University in with a B.S. in Elementary Education, and the University of Utah with an M.Ed in Culture, Society, and Education.
Coach Brad Beadles joined the staff this past summer as a coach with the 15U American Legion team. Coach Beadles has many years of experience with youth baseball and will be a tremendous addition to the Alta Baseball staff. More on Coach Beadles to come.
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