When Mike Menti experienced first hand that FaceTime was nice, but nowhere as good as being there, that’s when he knew it was time.

“It came down to, I can’t miss any more of my kids’ stuff,” said Menti, who resigned recently after 16 seasons as head softball coach at Timberlake. “I missed (oldest son) Brayden’s state track meet this year, and I can’t do that anymore.”

Menti, 43, took over the Tigers softball program in its second season of existence, and guided Timberlake to state in each of those 16 seasons. He posted a career record of 292-138, his teams won or shared 10 Intermountain League titles and captured 11 district titles. Under Menti, Timberlake brought home four trophies from state, including a best finish of second place in 2007.

"It was a good time, and it was definitely time,” Menti said. “I’m giving up one family for another family, really, is what it feels like. I just love those kids, they’re great kids. I’ve had great parents. We’ve had little to no trouble at Timberlake. It’s going to be hard to leave those girls, that’s for sure, but I know it’s the right decision.”

Timberlake athletic director Tim Cronnelly said there is no timeline for naming Menti’s replacement. Menti said he would recommend Casi Reisenauer, an assistant under Menti the past two seasons, and who played on Menti’s first Timberlake squad in 2000.

“It is definitely a bummer to see Mike leave softball — he connects so well with kids and they love playing on his teams,” Cronnelly said.

Menti said he will continue teaching life science at Timberlake Junior High, and remain as defensive coordinator on the Tigers’ varsity football team.

A sophomore this year, Brayden Menti qualified for state at Middleton in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters, as well as the high jump. That weekend, Mike Menti was coaching his softball team at the state tourney at Ramsey Park in Coeur d’Alene.

When his son raced at state, dad/coach watched via FaceTime with his wife, Terri, who was down at the state track meet.

“As much yelling and screaming as I wanted to do while I’m watching him, I knew he couldn’t hear me,” Mike Menti said.

Menti graduated from Post Falls High in 1990, playing Legion baseball. After graduating from the University of Idaho, Menti was a substitute teacher in the Post Falls area, then taught at Lapwai for three years — including one season as the Wildcats’ baseball coach.

Then a teaching/coaching job came up at Timberlake. But the coaching job was for softball, not baseball.

“I’ve been a baseball guy my whole life and I’m like ‘Softball? You kidding me?’, Menti recalled. “But I talked to Darren Taylor (with whom he had coached Legion with Prairie), he was coaching (softball) at Lake City at the time, and he told me, ‘It’ll be the best decision you’ll ever make.’ And he was absolutely right.”

“The sport is relatively new, and the girls just want to learn,” Menti said he was told. “They don’t know everything. Very little attitude. They’re excited to play. Baseball the dads played, the grandpas played. They know everything already. They didn’t have that excitement for learning the sport that the girls had, and he was right.

“He loved it, and I agreed with him. There’s been very few days when I’ve been out on that softball field that I wasn’t out having a whole lot of fun.”

When he first came to Timberlake, Menti said “In my male mind, I thought I’d coach softball for a year or two, then get over into baseball. But when those baseball jobs would open up everybody would ask me, ‘Do you want the baseball job?’ and I’d go ‘No way, I absolutely love what I’m doing.’

“The baseball job opened up a couple of times while I was there. We’ve always been good (in softball), and that’s always helped my decision, but coaching the girls and the fun of the game, I wasn’t going anywhere.”

Later in his career, Menti’s name would come up sometimes when softball jobs at bigger schools in the area came open, but he said he had no interest.

“I just love Timberlake,” he said. “We moved our family up there — we lived in Post Falls for the first 10 years, but we’ve been in Spirit Lake the past 5-6 years. But I love Timberlake. Great schools, great principals, a fantastic athletic director … just no interest in leaving Timberlake. The big schools are fine and dandy, but I like that smaller-school atmosphere.”

Obviously Menti would have liked to have won a state title in softball, but 16 trips to state in 16 seasons says something about consistency.

“We haven’t been able to win the pretty blue trophy yet, but we’ve brought home some hardware, and we’ve had some kids go off to college and get their school paid for, so … I’m very proud of what we’ve done,” Menti said.

Menti said he’ll be available to help the new coach if they ask, but is also looking forward to more family time.

“I guarantee you that first game (next season) is going to be hard,” he said, “but I tell you what, I hope I’m at a track meet watching my kid run, and I’ll be as happy as can be.”