His varsity baseball teams won exactly two-thirds of their games (166-83) and three City League championships over the nine seasons he was head coach. He was also a crucial member on the coaching staff of one of Ohio's most successful high school basketball programs of the past 20 years.

But those factors were not enough for Ed Mouch to hold onto either position at his alma mater, St. John's Jesuit.

On June 28, the final day of his St. John's baseball camp, Mouch got the news that neither of his coaching contracts would be renewed for the 2007-08 school year.

Mouch, 44, spent the next couple weeks searching for specific reasons for his dismissal. He said he was advised of his nonrenewal in a letter signed by outgoing school president, the Rev. Don Vettese.

Father Vettese exited his post on June 30 and is currently on a mission in Guatemala, according to St. John's athletic director Brian Miller. Miller said Vettese could not be reached for comment, and that Mouch's non-renewal was an "administrative decision."

Mouch, a 1981 graduate of St. John's, where he excelled in baseball and basketball, said he spoke to numerous people

officially associated with St. John's after the dismissal but found no specific answers.

"The first thing we'd like to do is thank Ed for all the years of service and wish him the best of luck in the future," said Miller, who teamed with Mouch on St. John's first CL basketball championship team in 1981. "Beyond that, I would not like to discuss why he was dismissed. But we do appreciate his years of service.

"It was an administrative decision and, as an administrator, we would not like to discuss those decisions. Anytime you let go of a coach it is a tough job. This wasn't easy."

It was no easier for Mouch, who has spent more than half of his life connected to St. John's athletics.

"It does hurt me," Mouch said. "I graduated from St. John's in 1981, and I've been associated with the school since 1989 when I started coaching basketball and, a year later, baseball.

"I've helped build both baseball and basketball into very reputable programs. My son Ryan [a Titan baseball player] graduated from there this past year. Being around the school as much as I have in my life, it's something that is difficult for me because I've bled St. John's blue and gold since I first got there [as a freshman] in 1977. I've spent half my life doing something for St. John's."

That relationship officially ended June 28.

"When I first found out, I was completely shocked," Mouch said. "Over the last nine years I thought we had established a pretty good baseball program that was known throughout northwest Ohio, and we also established ourselves statewide. I looked back on it and tried to figure it out by talking to other people involved with the school, and I haven't found out any specific reason or reasons why I was let go."

Mouch's Titan baseball teams won three times in five CL championship games. Last season St. John's posted a 23-7 record, losing to Clay in both the district final and the CL title game.

"Looking back on it, I don't think there was anything, baseball-wise, that had anything to do with it," Mouch said. "And, outside of baseball, I could not find any specific reasons why this decision was made. I thought I'd held myself to a very high standard off the field as well as on the field."

Titans basketball coach Ed Heintschel, who has 497 wins entering the 2007-08 season, coached Mouch for a season and a half on the junior varsity (1978-79) and two more on the varsity. His former player later worked his way up the Titans basketball staff, and has been a varsity assistant for the last six years.

"I can only speak for basketball, but Ed will be sorely missed," Heintschel said. "We developed a very good chemistry over the years as a coaching staff. Ed was outstanding in scouting opponents and in preparing to play them. He was also very good on the bench with game adjustments. On a personal level it's a loss, as well as professionally."

St. John's loss may be another school's gain.

"I still want to stay involved with coaching in both baseball and basketball," Mouch said. "If I don't get involved again with coaching, I've got an opportunity to go watch my son play baseball at Oberlin College for the next four years, and I can also watch my daughter [Julia] play sports when she gets into high school next year.

"I'd like to thank Ed Heintschel and [former Titan assistant AD] John Brennan, who have been extremely supportive since I first became a coach at St. John's."

First Published July 19, 2007, 9:32 a.m.