After twelve years at Loyola, head baseball coach Don Moreau broke the university’s record for most career wins, previously held by former Loyola coach Louis “Rags” Scheuermann, after defeating Louisiana State University Shreveport 4-3 in extra innings during last week’s conference series in Shreveport.Moreau attributes his success to his love for his job and his love for the players, past and present.”Whatever we do today, whatever success we’re having is directly attributable to them (the players on the early teams). They paid their dues, and now we’re reaping the benefits. We owe it all to them.In an April 9, 1999, article in The Maroon, Moreau talks about his team then, calling them good players and good kids. And Moreau still thinks highly of his team”We’ve just got good, classy kids,” he said.Scheuermann, known as the “godfather of New Orleans baseball,” coached Loyola baseball from 1958 to 1972.His record of 234-126 stood more than 26 years, until the 39th game of Moreau’s 12th season as head coach of the team.”Obviously, surpassing the record has been one of the great accomplishments of my life,” Moreau said, “and because of my relationship with ‘Rags,’ it makes it even more special.”Moreau credits much of his knowledge to the teachings of Scheuermann, whom he coached alongside and against throughout the summer seasons of the late 1980s and early 1990s.In September of 1989 Moreau was contacted by Loyola student Mickey Gallagher, A’93, whom he previously coached on a summer Legion team.Moreau, along with Gallagher and a group of motivated athletes, felt that establishing a program in the tradition of Scheuermann and Loyola teams of the past was an endeavor well worth the time and the effort. Moreau remembers the early years.”If you could spell baseball, you probably could make the team. …We took a lot of beatings, a lot of humiliations….No one around Loyola really knew anything about baseball (when it started up again),” said Moreau.A win record well over 200 and seven consecutive visits to the GCAC tournament later, the second-generation Loyola baseball program, headed by Moreau, has so far earned its keep.And no matter how clichéd it may sound, Moreau says the congratulations should be directed elsewhere.”It’s not anything I did,” said Moreau. “I never got a base hit. I never struck anybody out. It’s the kids that did it all. It’s a tribute to them…It’s definitely because of the quality of the players.”One wonders how Moreau keeps motivated after twelve years. He obviously loves his players, but he attributes much to his love of the game.”I’ve got to be one of the few people in the world that loves to go to his job every day. It’s been totally rewarding,” he said.In the 1999 article, Moreau said, “I didn’t know what I wanted to do most of my life. I didn’t realize until I was about 50 that what I wanted to do was coach baseball.”He added, “Baseball’s the greatest game ever… Between every pitch there’s a hundred decisions that had to be made. It’s the greatest game ever.”