LITTLE RIVER, Kan. – Little River High School announced that assistant baseball coach Dean Mantz will be the school’s new Head Baseball Coach starting in the spring 2026 season.
Mantz has been the assistant coach for the Redskins since 2020, helping the team to a pair of state tournament appearances, including a 2-1A State Runner-Up finish in 2022. The head coaching gig will be his first since acting as the Sterling High School Head Softball Coach from 2017-19 and the first Head Baseball Coaching job since he was at Lyons from 2002-06. Mantz has a 95-20 record in baseball and 46-15 record in softball, putting his total at 141-35, a winning percentage of 79.7%.
The new head coach has had nearly 30 years of coaching experience in Rice County, starting with Lyons High School as an assistant coach, helping start the program at Lyons in 1997. Mantz led Lyons to a state title in 2004 while as the head coach and earned 3A Coach of the Year awards in 2005 and 2006. He then moved on to be the assistant softball coach at Lyons from 2007-08 before moving onto Sterling to become the assistant softball coach from 2011-16.
Mantz’s earned head coaching experience at the softball level at Sterling High School from 2017-19, leading the school to be Heart of America League Champs, League Runners-Up, and Regional Runners-Up. Following the 2019 season, he move on to Little River to become the assistant coach.
Sterling College was Mantz’s home from 1989-1993, where he played college baseball for four years. During his time with the Warriors’ baseball team, he was a Co-Team Captain and recipient of Senior Inspiration Recognition. He went on to play semi-pro baseball from 1993-94.
Mantz mentions that his skills include player mentorship while Little River Athletic Director Erik Base says he’s done a great job with the students and has tremendous baseball knowledge.
