CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. In one of the more odd coaching changes in recent memory to hit one sport at the high school level in Montgomery County, three schools will be looking for new head baseball coaches as the 2015-16 school year winds down and student, teachers and administrators prepare for summer break.
West Creek coach Will Jobe talks to his pitcher and catcher during a game earlier this season. Jobe resigned Wednesday at the Coyotes’ baseball coach.
West Creek coach Will Jobe turned in his resignation Wednesday, joining the resignations of Kenwood’s Charles Ratliff and Northwest’s Robert Baskin, according to Clarksville-Montgomery County School Support Coordinator Brett Burchwell.
Baskin’s resignation, however, seemed to be problematic after a brief conversation with The Leaf-Chronicle.
“I did resign and I’m not saying a word,” Baskin told the newspaper late Wednesday afternoon. “I have no comment but that I have some different opportunities.”
The Vikings finished below .500 this season in Baskin’s first year with the team. Northwest was 11-19 and only 6-8 in District 10, but the Vikings managed to knock out the defending district tournament and current regular season district champs, Rossview Hawks from this year’s district tournament. Rossview plays for the Region 5 title Wednesday night against Gallatin.
Kenwood had the roughest year of the three programs. The Knights finished just 1-28 and did not win a district game this season. But Kenwood athletics director, Christie Fordham, said Ratliff’s resignation was on his own terms.
“This was not something Kenwood was pursuing or exploring,” Fordham said. “We’ve had so much coaching turnover with our baseball program in the past six years, that we were ready to move forward with coach Ratliff. But he’s had some family issues he’s been dealing with and that had a role to play in his decision to resign.”
Fordham said Kenwood will be looking for a new coach but hasn’t set a deadline for when it wants to make a decision.
“Obviously, the sooner the better,” Fordham said. “But we don’t have anyone in mind at this point.”
West Creek suffered through an injury-plagued 2016 season and finished with a 8-21 mark in Jobe’s sixth season. Jobe was the longest tenured coach of the three after he joined the program in 2011 as the school’s second baseball coach. Jobe’s best season was the 2014 year when the Coyotes finished 14-19. West Creek had a 51-111 in his six seasons.
“He told us it was for personal reasons,” West Creek athletics director Patrick Digby said. “We appreciate his years of service to West Creek as the baseball coach but his letter to us stated that this was his wish.”
This story will be updated when more information becomes available.
Reach Prep writer George Robinson at 931-245-0747 and on Twitter @Cville_Sports.