SANDPOINT — Announced officially last week, 2017 Bonners Ferry High graduate Jesse Dunham was named the new head baseball coach at Sandpoint High.

Dunham, a two-way player throughout high school and college, was a four-time All-Intermountain League honors recipient and the Co-MVP his senior year. The right-handed phenom led the Badgers to back-to-back undefeated IML titles and to third-and-second-place finishes in the state in 2016 and 2017, respectively. His senior season at Bonners Ferry High, he held a 0.56 ERA across 37.2 innings pitched, striking out 43 batters in the process. At the plate, he accounted for a .372 batting average to go along with 16 hits, including six doubles and a triple, 18 RBI, 19 runs scored and six stolen bases.

Sandpoint High Athletic Director TJ Clary said him and Dunham are 100 percent aligned on their on-and-off the field philosophies.

"I see the potential for him to take this program in a direction that we've never seen," said Clary, who believes Dunham may be one of the best hires he's had in his tenure as AD. "He just understands the idea of the bigger picture. He has high standards, but in a way that's going to motivate these kids to be their best — their best person, their best self."

Dunham attended and played at Columbia Basin College for one year and at Lassen College in Susanville, Calif. for two seasons before joining the Owls of Oregon Tech. In his 2020 season as a Cougar, he led the CCCAA's Golden Valley Conference in wins (6), was fourth in strikeouts (37), and fifth in ERA (3.00) across 48 innings on the bump, only walking six batters the whole year. As a hitter that year, he batted .346, which ranked as sixth in the conference, and accounted for 18 hits, including four doubles and a triple, eight RBI and seven runs scored.

During the 2021 season at Oregon Tech of the NAIA, Dunham totaled a 2-4 win-loss record and two saves across 53.1 innings on the mound, compiling a 4.89 ERA and 43 strikeouts. At the plate, he batted .259 (29-for-112) while registering 25 RBIs, 18 runs scored, four doubles and three home runs.

Dunham, who assisted for a year under head coach Tom Turpin in Bonners Ferry, said despite being out of baseball for four years now, he's young, hungry and excited to get things going.

"I'm excited to teach my own kids how to play baseball the right way, have them watch and a be a part of it as well," Dunham said. "I try to incorporate everything I've learned in baseball — all the trades and morals of it — into everyday life. The hard work, dedication, energy, it can be translated into everything you do. We're not only trying to build good baseball players, we're trying to build good men."

Dunham takes over for Ricky Klontz, who resigned from the position over the summer. Klontz, a 2006 graduate of Sandpoint High and also a former CBC Hawk, compiled a 28-44 record across three years as head coach of the program.

Dunham said he misses the game, and this opportunity couldn't have come at a better moment.

"Baseball was and is the most important thing in my life; it's taught me a lot," said Dunham. "This game has made me who I am today, so I have a lot to give back to baseball — I owe it a lot. I can't wait to get back into it. I'm ready to go."