Andy McKay led the La Crosse Loggers franchise into uncharted territory the last two summers, winning 80 games and coming within one victory of a Northwoods League title.

No wonder Loggers general manager Chris Goodell was one happy guy Wednesday.

McKay, 38, said he will return to manage the team in 2010.

"He's changed the landscape of our on-field product over the last two years," Goodell said. "He's the best in the business, and having him come back is an enormous step forward for 2010. The No. 1 piece of the puzzle is in place."

Goodell said there is a "good chance" that pitching coach Justin Ramsey and assistant coach Joe Potulny will both return. Assistant Willie Bowman is pursuing a career as a pro scout.

McKay said after the Loggers' 7-4 loss to Rochester on Aug. 16 in the deciding Game 3 of the NWL Championship Series that he would take at least two weeks before deciding if he would return in 2010.

The key considerations for McKay were his family, including wife, Anne, and children Hank, 10, and Gaby, 7, and his responsibilities as the head coach at Sacramento City College.

"When we got done with the season, obviously it had really been a neat experience," McKay said. "When we got back home, we were pretty open to coming back. We decided we'd do it one more time."

The Loggers own the best regular-season record in the Northwoods League over the 2008-09 seasons (80-56) under McKay.

McKay established a minor-league style system in La Crosse, having players report for pre-game work by 2 p.m. most days.

It's an approach that some coaches from other NWL teams openly questioned at first, Goodell said, but they don't anymore.

"There's no rocket science to it," McKay said. "The difficult part is doing it every day, and obviously we've been able to do it."

Infielder Blair Moore, who joined the Loggers at midseason in 2009 as the team's first player directly out of high school, was glad to hear McKay will be back to work with him.

"He's definitely not like any other coach I've played for," said Moore, a freshman at San Diego State who is signed with the Loggers for 2010. "He really works with you on the mental side. He helped my game a ton."

When McKay was hired in September 2007, he promised to run a program that would focus on both player development and winning games.

So far, McKay has been as good as his word.

The Loggers have had Baseball America's No. 1 pro prospect in the NWL each of the last two seasons (outfielder Cory Vaughn, 2008, and catcher Robert Brantly, 2009), in addition to 80 wins and '09 South Division title.

"The hard thing to do is both; develop and win," Goodell said. "But he's been able to do that, because his systems work. We'll get the same approach and the same effort we've always had."

The Loggers went 39-29 in 2008, establishing the best regular-season record in team history, but missed the playoffs.

McKay said he applied the lessons from that season to his recruiting for 2009, emphasizing depth and versatility. The Loggers clinched their first pennant since 2004 on the second-to-last day of the second half, edging Madison by a half-game.

La Crosse swept Eau Claire 2-0 in the South Division playoffs and lost to Rochester 2-1 in the championship series.

The Loggers dismissed four players in late July after an off-field incident, and the roster was also thinned out by injuries, most notably to first baseman Brandon Meredith, catcher Cory Burleson, and infielder Andrew Hannon.

"It was just a tremendous group of competitors," McKay said. "On paper, we should have had no chance to finish that season after losing those four guys and losing Meredith right afterward. The fact that our guys were able to continue to excel at a high level was really neat."

McKay said his focus for the next eight months will be on his Sacramento City College team. But he also expects to do more good things when he returns to La Crosse next May.

"I know the team is in place, I know I'll be there," McKay said. "I think our roster will be better, and I'll be better at what I'm doing. The expectations will be to win a Northwoods League championship and get these guys in much better positions for their baseball careers."

The McKay Era in La Crosse

2008 39-29 .574

2009 41-27* .603

Totals 80-56 .588

*Won South Division second-half and division playoffs.