By DARRYL GRUMLING

Journal Register News Service

ELVERSON — Matt Royer's circuitous coaching odyssey has endured more stops than a Greyhound route.

But one constant has been evident in the near three-decade tenure of the Spring-Ford grad: success.

Wherever he's gone, the 51-year-old Royer has displayed a kind of midas touch on the baseball diamond, both at the college and scholastic level.

Turning mistake-prone teams into fundamentally sound ones. Turning subpar squads into playoff qualifers. And turning average programs into perennial powers.

This spring, Royer resurfaced at Twin Valley High school in Berks County, guiding the Raiders to an 11-7 record and a berth into the District 3-AAA Tournament, which begins Friday.

"I just love the game," said Royer, who played second base and pitcher for the Rams before graduating in 1975. " I always loved the game, but I knew I didn't have the size and wasn't good enough to be a pro player and I didn't want to give it up. I probably wouldn't have went to college if it wasn't for baseball."

After a one-year stint at Nyack College in New York, Royer transferred to Liberty University in 1977, where he played three years for the Flames.

"My senior year of college, I wrote letters to 40 of the top baseball programs in the country to try to be a (graduate) assistant," Royer said. "There were only about two or three positive responses, but Arizona was one of them."

Royer eventually landed a JV coaching gig with the national power Wildcats while he finished out his Master's degree.

"At the time, they had won three national championships, so it was a great opportunity to be around big-time baseball and learn from some of the best people," he said.

Royer credited former Liberty coach Al Worthington and longtime former Arizona coach Jerry Kindall as two of his top coaching influences.

"Al taught me to be a man of character and to treat people the right way," Royer said. "And Jerry was just a great organizer. I learned a lot about teaching the game from him.

"The most important thing for me is that we play hard and play the game the right way. I've never walked into a place where it was incredibly talented, so we had to make sure we did all of the little things right."

That philosophy has paid big dividends for Royer's squads through the years.

During his five-year stint at Spring-Ford from 1985 through 1989, he led the Rams to the District 1-AAA title in 1988 (the school's first district championship in any sport) and a trip to the PIAA semifinals.

After stints at Harper Junior College in Arlington Heights, Ill., and Division III Wheaton (Ill.) College, he took over at Kutztown University in 1994 and took the program to uncharted heights. In nine years at Kutztown, Royer amassed

270 victories, was named the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Division's Coach of the Year four times, and guided the Golden Bears to two NCAA Division II World Series appearances.

He then moved on to Liberty University, where he led his alma mater to a 153-132 record from 2003-07.

Despite the most successful three-year run in the school's history over his final three seasons, Royer wound up resigning due to philosophical differences with athletic director Jeff Barber over the direction of the program, something that still sticks in Royer's craw.

"I don't know if I've recovered from it yet," Royer said. "I still think about it laying in bed at night."

Royer spent last year in Illinois as an assistant at Prairie Ridge High, outside of Chicago, which won the Class 4A state championship.

In late winter, he noticed the Twin Valley opening on the internet. With his parents, Carl and Betty, still living in Royersford, he decided to give it a shot. He said the hardest part of the job was leaving his wife Terry and children Kaitlin, Travis and Kayla for three months back at their Forest, Va., home.

"I didn't have any expectations one way or another," said Royer. "I told them I could be here a few months at the beginning, and we'll see what happens after that."

Though he arrived just a day before preseason practice started, Royer led the Raiders to a 10-3 start. They were at the top of the Berks League's Division II standings before ace Brad Smith went down with an injury, which was a big factor in a 1-4 finish that saw Twin Valley nosed out of the Berks playoffs. The 10th seed Raiders hope to have Smith available for Friday's 4 p.m. district opener against 23rd seed Elco at Ephrata's War Memorial Field.

"I like the kids," Royer said. "We've had fun and been kind of loose. It's a little disappointing we've been hurt by things out of our control, like not having three of our top four pitchers most of the year because of injuries. But we're still in districts, so we'll see if we can extend the season."

And extend a coaching career that's been consistently good every step of the way.