He was instrumental in making them Patriots.
Cross, who recently completed his fourth season as a Penn assistant, previously worked at GA under then-coach Craig Conlin, who's now the basketball boss at Episcopal Academy. One of his duties was to find talented players, preferably with solid character and strong academics, and bring them into the fold.
Talk about hitting a home run . . .
All three were excellent at GA from the well-rounded standpoint. Plus, they came from great families. Barr's father, John, is a lawyer. Tom Coyle and Charlie and Kathyrn Kish are doctors.
"Tommy Coyle was the first one of those three guys I saw and I remember that scene distinctly," said Cross, who's also a lawyer. "We had a little tournament on our campus for youth teams and Tommy was with the Pennsylvania Knights.
"I said to our JV coach, Charlie McGeehan, that we really needed a good lefthanded-hitting shortstop that could run. Five seconds later, I saw Tommy Coyle. Quite frankly, his talent level was off the charts. For the next 3 hours, I couldn't believe that exactly what I said we needed was right there in front of my face.
"Even at that point, because he was small, some people had written Tommy off. I said, 'I don't care. His motor is off the charts and you can tell he loves the game.' I was very fortunate to find Tommy and then I hear, 'Oh, by the way, he has a brother.' And then I say, 'I don't even need to see him. I'll take them both.' "
Tommy Coyle, a 2009 GA grad, starts at second base for the 50-14 Tar Heels. He's second in batting average (.318), tied for first in doubles (16) and leads the squad in steals (18). His brother, Sean, also a middle infielder, starred for the Patriots last school year and was the Red Sox' third-round draft choice; he's now with Class A Greenville.
