De Glaskoning Twins must look for a new manager

Yesterday, it became publicly known that Kevin Knollenburg, manager of De Glaskoning Twins, will leave the club at the end of the season. According to Knollenburg it is not possible to combine the managing job with his family and his day job.

In an interview with the website of De Glaskoning Twins last year, Knollenburg expressed his ambition to become a manager in the hoofdklasse. At that time, Knollenburg was a first base coach/bench coach when Kevin Roovers was still the manager.

After Twins released Roovers from his duties at the end of the season, they turned to Knollenburg to fill in the void. With several new acquisitions (Sam Kennelly, Misja Harcksen, Ruar Verkerk, Shogo Nakashima, Shurman Marlin, Pastor Chavez Martinez, Jarreau Martina and Jakob Syrén, the goal was set higher for the 2018 season as the club wanted to reach the playoffs. Quite ambitious since the club had to play to prevent relegation in the 2017 season.

Eventually, Twins made the playoffs, though barely as DSS blew a two-point lead by losing to Silicon Storks. Tied for fourth place, the results of the games played between DSS and Twins were in the favor of the team from Oosterhout, so the club clinched that fourth spot in the standings.

In a personal talk with Kevin Knollenburg yesterday, the Dutch Baseball Hangout learned that family reasons were the most important factor in his decision to call it quits. Four of the seven weeknights, Kevin was dealing with baseball. On Tuesday he was training the team. On Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, he was managing the team. And that put a lot of pressure on his family.  Last weekend his son played his first soccer game and because of the playoff race, Knollenburg wasn’t able to see that game. Quite understandably he felt very miserable about it. His managing job also started to have a negative influence on his day job as he noticed that his work started to deteriorate. Since managing De Glaskoning Twins took the toll of his family, Knollenburg had made the decision to throw the towel in May already.

In a local newspaper, technical manager Patrick van Gool stated that the announcement by Knollenburg was quite a blow. “For a reason, we asked him to become manager of the team. We counted on a cooperation for several years. We respect his decision and will have to look for a successor.”

Knollenburg made clear that he is willing to help Van Gool out to find new players if necessary, but after the transition period is over, he will really call it quits.

As a father and family man, Knollenburg made the only right decision to choose for his family. But the likable guy will surely be missed.