ST. GEORGE — Even before the Flyers lost in their last baseball game under his leadership, head coach Danny Ipson knew that his days in the Dixie dugout had come to an end.

Crosstown rival Snow Canyon defeated Dixie 5-2 to claim the 4A state baseball championship on May 18 at Cate Field at Salt Lake Community College.

Speaking to St. George News afterward, Ipson as usual gave a classy and professional comment about the game, understandably choked up a little over the sudden ending to the season.

Almost a month later in his office in Hurricane on Friday, Ipson told St. George News that he knew long before the state championship that he was in his last season as head coach.

“I knew it was a decision I needed to make coming into the season,” Ipson said. “As we approached the stretch run, I had made the determination that maybe this would be a good way to exit.”

He went on to say that the Dixie class of 2024 was awesome. 

“And you know the program is in a good stature and a good status to move forward,” Ipson added. “So I felt like the timing would be right.”

It was not an easy decision to make after over 30 years as a player and coach in the Dixie program.

“It would just be a matter of whether I could accept it and get the closure needed to be able to make that hard decision,” Ipson said. 

Ipson’s best teams as manager were the 2017 and 2018 Flyers that captured back-to-back state championships.

“Probably the most competitive group of kids I’ve ever coached,” Ipson said. “We competed harder every day in practice than we did on the field come game time.”

This year’s version of the Flyers had some family relations to those prior championship teams and Ipson said that he was especially close to the 2024 Flyers.

“For me, from my thinking, if there was a group I wanted to go out with, that would be it,” Ipson said. “Just from an exit strategy, looking at that for me to say, ‘The relationships I have with the players is important to me, and being able to go out with that group is awesome.’”

Dixie’s roster listed 11 seniors this year and most of them played a vital role on the diamond. The Flyers finished second in Region 9 with a 10-2 mark and completed the campaign 27-5 overall.

Star catcher Ridge Erickson is headed for Brigham Young University. Shortstop Boston Vest will play at New Mexico State.

Other standout seniors who completed their career at Dixie were Logan Leavitt, Braxton Yates, Cooper Batholomew, Max Orton, Isaac Zepf, Trace Franco, James Lea, Jackson Forcier and Keain Singleton.

Ipson spoke of the legacy he hopes he left with all of his former players.

“Just recognizing that baseball teaches you lessons of life,” he said. “And those lessons are something you can use throughout the rest of your life and your career.”

He said while it’s true that no one from the championship teams at Dixie ever went on to play professional baseball, “…everybody are professional people.”

Ipson played for Dixie during his sophomore through senior years. He graduated from Dixie and first took a job on the baseball staff as assistant coach during the 1997-98 season.

He finished his career at Dixie after 14 years as head coach.

“We’ve sure put a lot of effort and energy and emotion into the baseball program,” Ipson said. “I say ‘we’ my family has participated in that, my wife (Jenny) has been very supportive, my son (Braxton, now coaching at Utah Tech) played there.”

After home games this year, Ipson was often seen driving one of his two grandsons around on a four-wheeler, dragging the infield to smooth it out.

“It’s been a good ride. And a good thing to have our family be involved with,” Ipson said. “Both my kids grew up on the baseball field, and on bus trips, and everything else.”

Ipson is quick to point out that he is not retiring. In fact, one of the reasons he stopped coaching is he needs more time for all of his business ventures and family life obligations.

After Ipson returned to St. George from the state championship, he received a phone call from Gov. Spencer Cox.

When the call came Ipson thought it might be another salesman calling.

“I obviously didn’t have his number in my phone,” Ipson said. “I may not have been exactly polite to the governor when I picked up the phone. I quickly made up for that.”

The governor phoned to tell Ipson that he had been appointed to the Board of Utah Higher Education.

So Ipson will be plenty busy. Still, he will miss being around the Flyers.

“I always tell them often, ‘Not everybody can be a Flyer.’ We require just a little bit more, both on and off the field, and not everybody can do that. That would probably include all the way from their parents to everybody else.”

“There’s a requirement there for them to be involved and to help the process,” Ipson added, “and the support we’ve received from them over the years has been tremendous. And, you know, that’s what we always tell them. Not everybody can do it.”

Ipson leaves the Dixie dugout with a career coaching record of 273-105.

A smooth transition process led to the announcement of Ipson’s former player and 2009 Dixie graduate Chunner Nyberg as new head coach of the Flyers.

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