LSU coach Paul Mainieri taught Air Force Academy baseball coach Mike Kazlausky how to be a man.
Mainieri’s tenure at the helm of the Falcons’ program provided Kazlausky with a host of baseball and life lessons.
After all, Mainieri gets paid to make baseball players realize their full potential on the field.
But to a young man who had already decided to devote his life to serving his country and his family, Mainieri’s guiding hand affected much more than Kazlausky’s batting average.
“He’s made me not only the man that I am, but the father and husband [I am],” Kazlausky said. “That’s what he does best. It’s not just being on the baseball field where he’s a tremendous coach, he’s that life coach that ties everything together.”
The Air Force Academy hired Mainieri in 1989, making him the first civilian coach in the program’s history. When Mainieri arrived in Colorado Springs, Colo., Kazlausky was entering his sophomore season.
Though Kazlausky walked on to the baseball team the previous season, Mainieri saw a special talent. Behind Kazlausky’s skill, there was a different attribute that may not always be visible outside a service academy: passion.
“Mike was one of those kids that you couldn’t help but love because he was so dedicated and so passionate about everything he did,” Mainieri recalled. “Baseball of course, but also about the Air Force Academy and the United States Air Force.”
That passion manifested itself into a career dedicated to representing the U.S. in an Air Force uniform every day for 20 years after he graduated from the Academy — something Kazlausky cites as one of his proudest accomplishments.
He doesn’t want to be known as Mike Kazlausky the baseball player or Mike Kazlausky the baseball coach. He is Maj. Mike Kazlausky — loving husband, doting father of two children and C-17 pilot.
But Mainieri had a more dramatic outlook, especially considering Kazlausky’s history.
“He was in harm’s way,” Mainieri said. “It’s very easy for you to say that Mike Kazlausky is a genuine American hero.”
The phrase “American hero” is a tough pill for veterans to swallow. It glorifies their role when, in their mind, they simply answered the call, took the mission and executed.
Kazlausky is no different.
“Gosh,” Kazlausky said, cringing at the notion. “A true American hero? That’s not me whatsoever.”
In September 2001, Kazlausky was stationed at the Academy, where he instructed cadets how to fly small planes and gliders. By the time the first plane hit the World Trade Center, Kazlausky had made up his mind.
He needed to be in the fight.
Kazlausky picked up the phone and called his old unit, pleading that he would do anything, whether it meant door-to-door fighting or flying planes. The answer he received was not the one he wanted to hear.
His superiors told him his responsibility to the country and to his Air Force was to “mold and guide and be a mentor for 4,200 cadets.”
“It was one of those things where you shut up, you salute and you say, ‘Yes, sir,'” Kazlausky said.
But Kazlausky would eventually get his turn. He returned to his Charleston, S.C., unit and, at various times during the next two and a half years, flew combat missions in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
And all the while up in the cockpit, Kazlausky was employing the Mainieri method.
“What I learned from Paul Mainieri wasn’t on the baseball field,” Kazlausky said. “What I learned was when flying C-17 missions into Baghdad being shot at, or flying into Afghanistan was … how to deal with adversity, stress and pressure. Because of him, I was able to successfully complete missions in and out of harm’s way.”
Kazlausky incorporated Mainieri’s leadership style into his role as an officer in the Air Force.
Air Force Col. Rick Rupp, the Wing Commander at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kan., knew Kazlausky both as his peer and his commanding officer, and he had nothing but the highest praise for Kazlausky’s lasting effect on people.
“He’s one of the best leaders I’ve ever met in my life,” Rupp said. “He commands a lot of respect from his peers because he holds himself to very high standards. He demands not just a lot out of himself but out of the people around him.”
Rupp recalled a story about the first day he took command of the unit he and Kazlausky were in together. Kazlausky came to his office and presented him with his most prized possession.
It was a beat-up Fungo baseball bat — the type coaches use to hit infield practice. It had chips and chunks missing from its wooden body. At first glance, Rupp said, it looked like a “piece of crap.”
But it held symbolic meaning. It was essentially a passing of the torch ceremony.
“What he’s communicating to me is, I better do a good job,” Rupp said. “There’s no option for me to let people down, he just passed the leadership baton to me, so I better get it right.”
It’s seemingly small gestures like these that make Air Force comrades’ fond memories of Kazlausky.
“If I had to go anywhere, in any environment — combat or non-combat, it doesn’t matter — and I got to take one or two people, he’s on my list,” Rupp said.
But it’s not only Kazlausky’s leadership that has him on Rupp’s shortlist. It’s his character and steadfast commitment to something bigger than himself.
At the Academy, a cadet can leave at the conclusion of their sophomore year with no penalties. It just so happens that Kazlausky had a stellar sophomore season in his first year under Mainieri.
“His coaches were afraid he was going to jump ship,” Rupp said. “But Kaz told me, ‘Why would I do that? I came to the Air Force Academy to be an officer.’ … Just think about that.”
Kazlausky downplays his ability as a player, saying he was just a hard-working team member who had great coaches.
But the record book doesn’t lie.
Kazlausky held eight career records when he graduated and is still in the top 10 in 10 of the 15 offensive categories in the Air Force Media Guide.
“He was the best player on our team,” Mainieri said. “He could have played on a lot of high-powered baseball schools around the country, but he chose a lifestyle of service in the military.”
Kazlausky’s career in the Air Force as an active duty officer is now over. His official title has the letters RET after his rank.
Kazlausky calls that one of the most difficult decisions he’s ever had to make, but one that has still allowed him to serve, just in a different capacity.
After taking over as the program’s interim coach last season, Kazlausky led the team to its most wins since 2002. The Academy removed the interim tag and hired Kazlausky as its full-time coach.
With his cadets, Kazlausky is again taking the Mainieri method and applying it to his team.
“I wanted to motivate kids to be great officers in our Air Force and great leaders in our country,” Kazlausky said. “But … my No. 1 goal is not about the baseball product, it is about creating men. It’s about creating great husbands and great fathers, and that I learned from Paul Mainieri.”
 
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Contact Luke Johnson at [email protected]