Longtime Lawrence baseball man Lee Ice has decided to see how the other half lives.

Late Thursday afternoon, Free State High athletic director Mike Hill announced that the school had hired Ice as its new varsity softball coach.

Ice replaces retired coach Pam Pine, who stepped down in May after 13 seasons at Free State. Pine was the first and only head softball coach the Firebirds had known, and Ice said he was looking forward to picking up where she left off in terms of developing the program from top to bottom.

“If we want to compete for state championships and that sort of thing, we’ve got to nurture the programs that involve the younger kids and build this thing from the ground up,” Ice said. “It’s really just about being involved with kids and being able to teach them the sport. That’s what I’m looking forward to the most.”

Ice’s baseball background is substantial and includes stops at Kansas University and with two Kansas City Royals’ minor league organizations.

Ice, a shortstop and third baseman, was a two-time captain at KU in 1977 and 1978. After college, he signed with the Royals organization and played two seasons in the minors with Kansas City. In 1979, while playing rookie ball with future Royals greats Buddy Biancalana and Darryl Motley, Ice was named to the Gulf Coast League’s all-star game.

He was released by the Royals in 1979 and went on to coach basketball at Lawrence High and baseball as an assistant at KU for seven years. Following that, Ice returned to coaching at the American Legion level, where he led the Lawrence Raiders for 10 seasons.

Hill said Ice’s baseball background was a positive asset but added that his past experiences in working with Ice had taught him all he needed to know.

“Good coaches can coach anything,” Hill said. “And I know from personal experience that Lee can coach and he can teach. He’s incredibly organized, enthusiastic and hard-working. And the thing that appeals to me most, beyond any of those traits, is that he’s dedicated to kids. It was very evident during the interview that he was a home run candidate for us.”

As for softball experience, Ice actually played fastpitch softball with a Haskell men’s team from 1981-83 and, more recently, served as an assistant coach with the Lawrence Phenix girls fastpitch organization.

During that time, Ice came to discover that the fundamentals of baseball and softball don’t differ much.

“It’s a very similar game because the objective is the same,” Ice said. “You want to score more runs than your opponent and put pressure on the other team. Basically, both games boil down to three things: pitching, catching and timely hitting. In fact, softball’s more like baseball used to be because you’ve got bunting and manufacturing runs and things like that. Touch a base, take a left. That’s what we’re going to teach and I think it will be a lot of fun.”

Since last coaching nearly nine years ago, Ice said people constantly had approached him and asked him whether he missed it. His answer was the same every time.

“I’ve always missed the kids,” he said. “I think this is going to be kind of a new challenge for me and I’m really looking forward to getting started. I wish we didn’t have to wait until spring.”

According to Hill, Ice won’t have to.

“There’s so much to do beyond the actually coaching of kids that goes into it these days,” Hill said. “The season isn’t just a March-to-May deal. It’s become more of a year-round job. There’s certainly going to be plenty on his plate, and we’ll do whatever we can to support him and his program. We’re excited to have him as a part of our school.”