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Miranda Back at Helm of PHS Baseball With Perspective Gained From Iraq War
By Bill Alden
It's hard to imagine that any local high school coach is happier to be on the field this spring than Princeton High baseball coach John Miranda.
After coaching PHS six seasons through 2001, Miranda, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Marine Reserves, was activated for military duty in February 2002, being stationed at Camp Lejuene before getting sent to Kuwait in November 2002.
He later was dispatched to Iraq and was in Baghdad shortly after it fell. Miranda, a PHS business teacher, returned to the U.S. last August.
Miranda acknowledges that he is a changed man as he returns to the diamond this spring. "It was intense," said Miranda in a recent interview as he reflected on his military stint. "Once you see and experience war, it changes you. It was quite an experience."
Miranda said his unit was one of the first groups in Iraq and that one of his most vivid memories of the experience was being in the square in Baghdad right after the statue of Saddam was knocked down by Iraqi citizens.
He acknowledges that his wartime memories occasionally flood back to his mind. "It hits you at the strangest times," explained Miranda, who led PHS to the Mercer County semifinals in 2000 and to the state tournament in 2001. "Both the good stuff and the bad stuff."
Despite the changes resulting from having taken part in the war in Iraq, Miranda says he won't adjust his approach to managing, noting that he views coaching baseball as an entirely separate pursuit from his military experience.
Miranda, though, did acknowledge that he should be able to handle the ups and downs of the upcoming season with a new equanimity. "It definitely puts things in perspective," said Miranda, joking that a loss to a heated rival like WW/P-S may not seem so dire as it had in the past. "It's been fun to be back on the field, I'm really enjoying myself. It's a pleasure."
And with what Miranda has been through the last two years, PHS is certainly enjoying having him back on the scene.
