Jim was a coach for 32 years, 25 years at South Bend Clay and seven prior to that at Greene Township which is near South Bend. Overall his teams compiled a 646-289-4 record with the 1970 Clay team winning the state championship with a 39-3 record, including a season concluding 33 straight wins. He retired as the coach at Clay in 1988 with his Clay teams winning 503 games, more than any other South Bend coach in any sport. In 1989 his uniform number,4, was retired. On two occasions he was voted the Midwest Regional High School Coach of the Year, and in both years was a finalist for the National High School Baseball Coach of the Year. He was twice named Indiana High School Baseball Coach of the Year.

In 1993 he was inducted into the South Bend Community Hall of Fame. At the time of his 1979 induction into the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame he was the winningest coach in the state.

Jim is still coaching baseball, at the professional level. Currently, this season is the thirteenth in pro ball and his eleventh with the South Bend Silver Hawks, the class A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Prior to the Diamondbacks, he spent time in the organizations of the White Sox, the Cubs and the Oakland A’s.

He was a charter member of the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association.