If you were picking out a Local/Area High School Baseball Coach of the Year, who would you be leaning toward?

Here are some of the key area/local choices and who are you leaning toward for this type of honor?

John Fowler-Glenn
Joey Hammond-Westchester Country Day
Reid Holmes-Southwest Guilford
Ken Morgan-High Point Central
Randy ‘Nat’ Norris-High Point Andrews
Jay White-Eastern Guilford

*****Got a write-in candidate?*****

+++++On the names listed above….+++++
Fowler:Got his team into the playoffs by winning the Conference Tournament Title, moving there as the #6 seed….
Hammond:Team just won the NCISAA 2-A State Title for the second consecutive season….
Holmes:His Cowboys team was nearly dead at the start of the season and losing Matt Orth didn’t help and he had them a game away from the Conference finals, at the end of the year.
Morgan:Has totally built the High Point Central Bison into a baseball contender from the bottom-up….
Norris:Had his HP Andrews team in the playoffs for the first time in 15 years.
White:Has Eastern Guilford Wildcats in the 4th Round of the NCHSSA Baseball playoffs for the first time ever….

22 thoughts on “If you were picking out a Local/Area High School Baseball Coach of the Year, who would you be leaning toward?

  1. I say White. Even with the 3 add ons White has still gotten more out of what he has than any other around.

  2. Morgan….he has legitimized HP Central baseball, something that no one thought was ever possible!

  3. By Far, Maness, at Ragsdale did the best job this year. Always been the best coach around!

  4. Fowler, Holmes or Morgan….undoubtedly! The gauntlet of that league, and I know the Mid-State is just as competitive from top to bottom….but there is absolutely no comparison between the levels of 4-A high school baseball and 3-A high school baseball…..put it this way…..The Piedmont Triad 4-A has 3 committed pitchers to UNC who is the #1 team in all of college baseball….so night in and night out you have to face a top flight Division I arm….and if you aren’t facing one of those….you are facing a quality mid-level D1 pitching prospect that on a given day is just as good as the aforementioned 3…..

  5. Once again all these coaches nominated or that have been thrown out there did a good job this year. Morgan did great White is still doing great. I am not so sure about Fowler or Maness. Fowler great job at the end of the year but where was that threw the entier year and not just for a 3 game stretch. Coach of the Year not Coach of the week or coach of the playoffs… What about a coach that has no D1 players and no transfers that have came in and he truly has developed hard working kids and has them buying into the program. However can we really see that in a 23 game season like in high school. Morgan has done really well since he has been @HPC. Are people going to say he is the worst in the next 3 years when then JV guys have to produce and they go back to the bottom? Ragsdale may win it all next year good young group coming threw. If they dont does that mean Maness is bad High school baseball is very tuff and playoffs as well. If you have agood crop come threw then ride them till they graduate. But i am not sure we can really say who a caoch of the year is in high school when the playing field is not level across the board. Just give COY to whoever wins the conference and move on. College coaches can have COY b/c what they do or go out and do recruit, practice year round, have back up arms for injuries, etc… and still do very well makes you a coach of the year. My point of view is you just cant say a coach is COY when they have D1 Studs but you can say they are terrible when they dont do well.

  6. I would say Coach Morgan at HPC. They have Butler, but did not pitch much towards the end. Shows he had to develop other players to step up. His players are good players, with really no standouts. No doubt he has done more with less- . The true test will come in the 2014-2015 season. There JV team has one maybe 5 games in 2 years. The well might be dry at HPC. There are some good young players there , but not enough to go around them. Look what NW has done year in and year out. There out early every year. They have several D1 players. By far have the most talented players in Guilford county maybe in the Triad. Still have to be able to lead them even if they are hot prospects.
    You can’t forget about Coach Gesell over at HPCA. Might be the best coach in the entire area. He does a quality job , no matter who he has. He runs a stand up program. His ability to coach and to teach his kids about life as well as baseball, makes his program a drawing card for players looking to go to the private sector.

  7. Coach Morgan did a great job this year and has built a good program to get to this point. HPC will win the conference next year and be a force in the state.. BUT

    Coach Gesell at HPCA has done it again… HPCA won the PACIS conference for the first time, had to go through Wesleyan to do it. Every year Coach G. takes whatever players comes his way and makes a winning program (lost three strong players last year, Tiger Miller – GTCC, Tyler Britton – Catawba – Jared Gesell – UNCW). (has many other players playing in college, a good developer of pitchers)
    is not afraid to play a challenging schedule, The program beat Reagan this year (Reagan knocked Glenn out of the playoffs). Traveled to Charlotte and lost to eventual state champion Charlotte Christian 2 to 1. Over the last 3 years has won 13 out of 14 games in the Myrtle Beach Spring Break Tourney – Mingo Bay, playing top teams from around the East. This year made it the final four of the 3A NCISAA, quarter finals last year.

    Runs a quality program and does so very quietly! I would strongly urge for you to consider what he has done this year and the past. (yes it is Coach of this Year!, I know but you need to know the whole story)

  8. Ken Morgan by far. To bring a winner to HPC is amazing and Butler did not pitch the last half of the season. He knows how to develop kids. White has obviously done a good job. congrats to Eastern on their season. But Morgan got HPC out of the ashes. Huge turnaround.

    Tiger, sorry but you are crazy. Ragsdale has squandered more talent that anyone around although not necessarily this year. I think Nick Mcbride is still warming up for the Parkland game. Most kids don’t get better there without outside instruction. Almost all the talent that has come though there grew their skills with various trainers in the community. But then if you are waiting for your high school coach to develop you into a player then you are backing up.

  9. I keep seeing Morgan built this team from the ground up? Here’s a few facts for ya. This team won there middle school conference back to back, dont think Morgan was there. 4 of these players have been together since they weere 10 and 2 more have played in and out with them. 2-3 players are I B transfers and 1 more is out of county tuition. So with that core to build from, you can pull a few more players from a 4A school and as we all know players will play up to the players they are playing with. So from that you have built a team from the ground up? O yeh did I mention they won conference back to back in middle school.

  10. Joey Hammond. Back to back titles. And developing players, and
    Future Leaders. Great job since day one of my sons high school
    Career.

  11. Built up, I know that middle school conference and its terrible. Only two teams in that group were jamestown and the ferndale boys who went to HPC. Don’t play that card. Morgan made that group better. A lot of hs coaches can’t say that.

    In defense of hs coaches, they don’t get the time with the kids they used to have. Hard to give a lot of individual attention to 15 kids in a 2 hour practice.

    Both Maness and Sonny at NWG have been blessed with some talent.

  12. Gotta congratulate Norris at Andrews. To get Andrews in the playoffs takes some magic.

  13. First, I humbly submit that my name does not belong in this topic of discussion – but am thankful that someone might even for a moment include me with my peers who are so deserving. Simply, my vote goes to Coach Morgan for his 2013 body of work.

    BUT my MAIN POINT is to the poster who so gutlessly and disrespectfully referenced Coach Maness above. If you are a player, the comments were dispicable. If you are the parent of a player, the comments are, well, truthfully, in today’s culture predictable and all-to-common-place… but no less disgusting.

    As was noted in another thread that detoured into this type of defamation, if you are so confident in your opinion, SIGN YOUR NAME.

    Finally, I pray that you find either the guts to speak to the man face-to-face, or peace with whatever you (or you vicariously through your child) have not achieved.

    Proud of (and praying for) my peers,
    Coach John Fowler, Glenn High

    *****Editors note:And as they should be, those comments have been removed as necessary, when we first checked in this morning. Really shouldn’t have to leave this note, but all who post, make your comments in a respectful manner and we will have a much more productive discussion….*****

  14. I must say after what happened at the SW Guilford sports banquet last night, Telling parents they can not come in to see their child because they over sold the banquet. Are you serious?

  15. jay white no doubt. Taking the Wildcats to the fourth round…come on now its not hard

  16. I can only speak for HPC when I say ALL of our boys play ball YEAR ROUND! They play a LOT of baseball in the off season to prepare them for the regular season. I would put more of Central’s success on the hard work of our players than that of the coaching. Coaching is much more than a team’s win/loss record! When you have two of the best pitchers from this area and another 6 than can give you quality innings on the mound, you are supposed to win games. When you have solid batting at every position you are going to win games. I am not sure about Coach of The Year, but I would definitely say Central Baseball is my TEAM of The Year! This is the first time in 42 years Central Baseball has won a game in the state playoffs. Starting in 2015, it may be longer than that!

  17. I think that morgan should not even be a question because those boys did all the work he was has average players thats real funny because he has a pitcher throwing 93 and one the best cathers ive ever seen he worries about character and he needs to worry about skill that he got lucky and has alot without those boys coach morgan is one of the worst coach ive ever seen

  18. Carl, it almost hurts me to attempt to read that ruuuuuun-onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.
    That being said, I remind you as another poster, this was about COY – NOT who is NOT.

    And I pray that you mispoke – or mistyped – or whatever, when you said,” he worries about character and he needs to worry about skill.” First, I hope to the Lord a HS coach IS concerned with character, and shaping it with young men. Second, you had already implied that all the skill was there, and that he need not develop it, so you seem to contradict yourself…

    Third – and I’m sure we all want to know – just how many CATHERS have you seen? 🙂

  19. @ Coach of the Year – I beg to differ….the HPC JV boys have WON more than 5 games over the last two years. In fact, they WON more than 5 this year. Isn’t a JV status for development, and not only for winning?

    Don’t forget, many of the boys playing JV also played with the Varsity in Middle School, when they were undefeated – back to back champs. Don’t write our boys off yet!

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