Sunny Hills Class of 2008 alumnus Dylan Kuhn had no plans of returning to home base.

All throughout high school, the athlete played as a pitcher and outfielder for the SH baseball team before moving on to college baseball and coaching jobs.

“I didn’t have a feeling that I was going to return to Sunny when I was playing,” Kuhn said. “Once I was done with playing in college and decided to start my coaching career, I thought it would be really cool to come back to my alma mater to coach.”

15 years later, the alumnus makes a full circle moment and returns as the head baseball coach with big dreams, hoping to instill growth within the team for the 2025 spring season.

“Kuhn was a varsity assistant in the program already, he has a lot of varsity coaching experience, and he’s a Sunny Hills alumnus, so he is definitely qualified for the position,” athletic director Paul Jones said. “There’s nothing like coaching at your alma mater because you have a lot of passion for the place and you’re very dedicated.”

Kuhn said his philosophy of coaching is to maintain growth throughout the season.

“My main emphasis is on player development while maintaining a positive environment,” he said. “I also try to instill key values like respect, teamwork and sportsmanship while also focusing on improvement and overall baseball knowledge.”

The coach said this mindset was inspired by his mentor, Trevecca Nazarene University head coach Ryan Schmalz. 

“He was a great coach and an even better person,” Kuhn said. “He showed that he cared about our development on and off the field.”

Kuhn began hitting a ball from the age of four, attending Pony Baseball practices with the La Mirada Baseball Association until he was 13 years old. Although he experienced all types of positions, Kuhn said he focused on playing first base, third base and pitching as he got older.

“I don’t know that there was an exact moment when I realized baseball was the sport I wanted to pursue, but I have always been passionate about baseball since I was exposed to baseball at a young age from my dad and my brother,” Kuhn said. “So, the desire was always there.”

In high school, Kuhn joined the SH baseball team in his freshman year in 2005 and made his way to varsity by his junior year in 2007.

The 2008 high school graduate said he continued his athletic and academic career as a pitcher with a win-loss record of 57-33 and a math major at Cypress College for two years.

“I was grateful for the opportunity to continue playing baseball,” Kuhn said. “Cypress College has a rich baseball history, so to be a part of that program was an honor, and I am thankful for my time there.”

Before starting his coaching career, Kuhn said he also transferred to Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tennessee during the 2010-2011 school season for three years and played baseball as a recruited scholarship athlete before graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Applied Mathematics in 2014.

“The opportunity to go out of state and play baseball on scholarship was an opportunity that I just couldn’t pass up,” he said. “It was one of the best experiences of my life, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

Kuhn said the experience of being in a new environment combined with many other factors made the Tennessee experience so memorable.

“Being away from home for the first time and the friendships developed are all of the things you hope for from the college experience,” the coach said. “And then adding onto that, the fact that I got to continue playing baseball was the cherry on top.”

Through the supportive environment created by his past coaches — like former baseball coach and current principal Craig Weinreich — the SH alum said he was molded into the coach he is today.

“I’ve said many times that coach Weinreich had a big impact on me when he was one of my coaches in high school, and I played for a legendary, Hall of Fame coach at Cypress College named Scott Pickler,” Kuhn said.“While he was one of the toughest and strictest coaches I have ever been around, the lessons I learned from him and the growth that I made both as a player and as a man is something that I cannot be more thankful for.”

Weinreich said Kuhn helped out a lot around the team, especially with the pitching.

“He was a very good athlete and a good player,” Weinreich said. “He’s competitive as any coach is, but he understands how to develop individuals and develop them into young men.”

The coach said his long history of coaching baseball started back in 2013 at Fullerton Union High School (15-10) as an assistant for one year. He then coached at Ayala High School [AHS]  (101-54) in Chino Hills from 2014-2019 with before moving on to Charter Oak High School (53-39) in Covina from 2019-2023 and eventually settling down at Sunny for two years and counting from 2023.

“I learned a lot during my time at Ayala and Charter Oak,” he said. “Cutting the grass, prepping the pitcher’s mound, and maintaining the infield are all the head baseball coach’s responsibilities that most other sports don’t have to worry about and are things that I have learned from my times at those other schools.”

During his 12 years of coaching baseball, Kuhn racked up many achievements. Specifically, Kuhn said he guided his teams — all schools combined have an overall record of 180-115 — to qualify for the CIF playoffs in eight out of his 10 seasons as their assistant coach. AHS advanced as far as the semi-final round in 2018, while Charter Oak was able to advance to quarter-finals in 2021 and 2022.

The coach said a majority of the success came from the 25-plus players he coached that advanced to play college baseball and especially the five players from AHS that went on to be drafted to play professional baseball.

“Of course I’m proud,” Kuhn said. “It has more to do with their hard work and dedication, but just being a small part of that as a coach definitely has a lot of pride that goes along with it.”

However, Kuhn said his decision to apply as a SH staff member was mainly based on teaching rather than baseball.

“I have wanted to end up at Sunny Hills since I first started teaching,” Kuhn said. “The opportunity and timing never lined up in the past, but when it did this time I could not let it pass without making an attempt to make it happen.”

Because he was already a part of the baseball coaching staff at Sunny Hills as an assistant coach since 2023 while teaching as a math teacher, Kuhn said he was aware of the need for a new baseball head coach when the previous coach resigned.

“The need and opportunity came about, and being that I am an alumnus and the program means so much to me, I couldn’t allow myself to not step up and become the head coach,” Kuhn said.

To balance coaching girls flag football and baseball, the SH alumnus said he stepped down from his position as the flag football head coach when he took on the role of the head baseball coach this year but will continue helping as an assistant in the coming years.

“My main focus and priority now has to be baseball, but starting the flag football program from the ground up last year was such a rewarding experience, and the relationships I developed with the girls in the program is something that I could not just walk away from,” Kuhn said. “The relationships that I built and seeing the success of my former players is really the whole reason why I continue to coach.”

Despite the girls flag football team’s losing record in his first year as head coach and the losing streak for baseball in the 2025 season, the baseball coach said he doesn’t view it as a failure.

“Of course, the win/loss record is an important measure of success, but you can have a losing record and still have a successful season,” he said. “If we improve from beginning to end and grow, that can be a great measure of success.”

In addition to his coaching experiences at various schools, Kuhn said he is currently a coach for the Inland Valley Pirates of the California Premier Collegiate League and has also managed various teams in other summer leagues since 2014, including the Sunset Baseball League, Orange County Collegiate League and Pacific Coast Collegiate League, where Kuhn assisted in coaching teams consisting of college baseball players from around the country.

The coach said working with these leagues allowed him to develop a strong network of collegiate coaches and assist some of his players in continuing their athletic and academic careers at the coaches’ colleges.

“Being around the collegiate game is such a different experience from high school,” Kuhn said. “In high school, a lot of the emphasis is on growing and teaching the athletes as much as possible, but in the collegiate summer leagues, it’s a more relaxed, laid-back experience, and the boys are there to have fun and get their reps in before heading back to their schools.”

Because he was able to learn and observe new methods of coaching, Kuhn said many things have changed compared to his first coaching job.

“In my first year [assistant] coaching, I was only 23 years old, fresh out of college and my playing career had just ended,” he said. “I looked at most things from the perspective of a former player as opposed to a coach, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but oftentimes can lead to poor communication or misunderstandings that are easier to avoid after years of coaching experience.”

Kuhn said that he has watched popular games and attended the American Baseball Coaches Association Conference twice, where he talked with coaches of all levels from the country and listened to former major league coaches and D1 college baseball coaches, to pick up on the subtle nuances that he may not have noticed before.

“The biggest thing that I have changed is that I have learned to not assume that players know exactly what any given situation requires of them,” he said. “It is the coach’s responsibility to prepare the athletes for those situations, and ultimately, if they are unprepared, it is on the coach to fix that problem.”

The baseball head coach said his biggest issue he needs to address in his first season is trying to get his players comfortable and trusting him in a new role.

“They all know me as the assistant coach from last year, but now, I’m trying to get them to change that view and see me as the head coach and trust me as the head coach,” he said.

Despite just starting off the 2025 season, Kuhn has already gained a positive reputation among his athletes for his leadership and reliability.

“He inspires the players to be themselves and express ourselves freely on the baseball field,” second baseman junior Mateo Ramirez said. “It was kind of a surprise when Coach Kuhn got hired, but I feel like it really impacted the team in a positive way because he allowed us to play freely and stress-free.”

Outfielder senior Evan Sung also said his determined yet friendly energy motivates the players to play diligently on the field.

“We really like Kuhn because he tries to build connections and foster an encouraging environment within the team,” Sung said. “He’s the type of coach who expects our best, but also doesn’t pressure us with the fear of punishment, which allows us to bring out our true potential during practices and games.”

The baseball head coach said his goals for this season are to guide the team to qualify for the iuiplayoffs and win the league title and CIF.

“I plan to achieve these goals by making sure that our players are as prepared as possible, from our practices, for any and all situations we will encounter,” he said.

Overall, Kuhn said he hopes to make a lasting impact on his alma mater’s baseball legacy in the long run.

“Being that I am an alumnus, this program means so much to me because it opened so many doors for me when I was a high school player and student, so I want to give everything I can back to this program,” he said. “I hope to be the coach for many years to come and continue to elevate the program to a place that our former, current and future alumnus can be proud of.”

The coach said his paramount plan for the program is continued growth.

“It starts with the current varsity players, but it also can’t be done without the development of the junior varsity and frosh players,” he said. “I want to teach them the culture and what it means to be a part of SH baseball so that when they get to varsity in the coming years, they are prepared to contribute.”