Coach Josef “Joe” Erskine has been married to his wife for over 40 years and is the proud father of three children. He brings over 25 years of coaching experience across the youth, club, and high school levels, with a lifelong love for the game of baseball and a deep commitment to mentorship and character development.

Josef grew up playing baseball and football in Orange County, California during the 1970s, competing at a high level as both an infielder and a pitcher. While he had opportunities to continue playing at the next level, he ultimately chose a different path but his passion for baseball never left. The game remained central to his life, shaped not just by competition, but by the influence of coaches who mentored him, taught him how to handle failure, how to be a great teammate, and how to carry himself with integrity. Those lessons helped shape who he became as a player, a coach, and a man.

His faith in Jesus Christ is foundational to his life and leadership, guiding how he approaches coaching, relationships, and service to others. Josef entered coaching not for recognition or wins alone, but to pass on the same mentorship and values he was given, to positively influence young men for both today and the future.

At the high school level, Josef spent three years coaching at Lakes High School, where he ran the JV program through the COVID years, a challenging but deeply meaningful time. When he arrived, the program had not won a game in several seasons. By the time he finished, the team had become one of the top programs in the league, earning competitive success and wins over established programs like Stadium, and helping reshape what baseball could look like in the Lakewood community.

Over the course of his career, Josef has helped multiple players go on to play college baseball and football, and he takes great pride in supporting athletes not just in their development on the field, but in their growth as students, leaders, and young men.

Josef believes baseball is a game built on failure and that how players respond to failure ultimately shapes who they become. His coaching philosophy centers on helping players handle both success and adversity with maturity, accountability, and resilience. His goal is to develop not only strong players, but strong young men who become contributors to their families, their communities, and society as a whole.

He lives in Lakewood and, outside of baseball, enjoys fishing off the pier at Lake Steilacoom and golfing in his spare time. Josef finds his greatest joy not in trophies, but in watching young men grow into confident, responsible adults and in knowing he played a small role in helping them get there.

His favorite quote is “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”