Baseball coach Walker retires: Steps down after 16 years with Pioneers
|
Citing a desire to spend more time with his children Rachel, 12, and Alex, 8, baseball coach Jimmy Walker announced his decision Friday to retire the position he’s held with the Pioneers since 1996.
“About midway through the season, I was at home one morning and my daughter came to me and asked if I was going to be able to make her softball game,” Walker recalled in a Friday interview. “I told her I couldn’t, and she just kind of turned around and walked away. I realized then I needed to be around more.
“Basically, I’m doing this for my family’s perspective. I’m doing it for my daughter, and for my son. It’s time for me to be a father for them.”
The future of the longtime head coach had been speculated upon throughout the season, with rumors abounding regarding his plans for next year. So just prior to the end of their season, Walker decided to make his plans clear to his players.
“We had a meeting, because there were a lot of rumors around and several of the kids were asking me about it,” he said. “I told them I was retiring at the end of the season, but that wasn’t going to stop me from coaching, and I didn’t want it to stop them from playing hard until it was over.”
The Pioneers’ season ended last Sunday in the quarterfinals of the District 7-AAA tournament, as they wrapped up a 14-21 campaign. But despite their struggles at times during his final season, Walker said he was proud of what his youthful squad accomplished in 2003.
“We asked our players to set goals — individual and team goals — of what they’d like to do this year,” he said. “I told them when we met about two weeks ago, that they’d obtained the goals I set. I wanted to finish around .500 in the district, and we finished 5-7, fourth behind the Murfreesboro schools.
“I’m proud of the kids. We went in with no flamboyant pitchers, then ended up with a team ERA of around 3.80. That’s all I can ask out of those guys. We didn’t hit the ball as well as I’d liked, but we faced a lot of quality pitchers.
“But I was proud of the team, and proud of the fact that they worked hard, and they played hard.”
The opportunity to work with such a young, enthusiastic squad this spring was one of the factors that helped Walker decide to coach one more year.
“I thought about (retiring) last year, but I went to camp with the guys and had a really good time,” he noted. “As my wife says, I just wasn’t ready to give it up.
“Now, I’m ready to do that. It’s been a part of my life for 16 years, and it’s hard to let that baby go sometimes. But I’m at ease with it now, and it’s time for me to move on. It’s time for somebody younger to come in and carry the torch for a while.”
“I don’t want to leave whoever takes this job empty-handed,” he added. “I’m not saying I tried to mold the team or anything, but I wanted to establish the kind of discipline that needs to enforced to play at this level.
“It’s not just grab the ball bag and go out and play anymore. To compete in this district, you’ve got to be a disciplined person. And I felt that with this many freshmen and sophomores, I wanted to do one more year of trying to instruct and instill that work ethic.”
Walker’s decision to retire ends a long, successful association with the Warren County baseball program.
He played for the Pioneers from 1976-79, before moving on to Motlow State Community College and then to Tennessee Tech — serving as a co-captain with both squads. After leaving Tech in 1984, he rejoined the Pioneers as an assistant coach in 1988, and took over as the team’s head coach in 1996.
During his time as an assistant and head coach, the Pioneers have accumulated numerous District 7-AAA and Region 4-AAA titles, including the 1992 state championship and a 1998 appearance in the state final four.
He has also seen several of his former players enter the coaching ranks, including Franklin County’s Phillip King, Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences head coach Brandon Lowry, Houston High School head coach Lane McCarter, and current Pioneer assistants J.W. Holt, Brent Whitlock and Jerry Martin.
Walker credited the support of WCHS administrators and year after year of strong community involvement with helping make his tenure with the Pioneers an enjoyable one.
“I’d like to thank the administration for being supportive of me, and for letting me do my own thing,” he said. “I trust them that whoever they bring in as the next coach will be the person they feel is best for the program.
“I’m also grateful to the community. They helped build this facility, which is kind of the benchmark for other schools around this area, and I know it’s taken a lot of hard work on parents’ parts through the years to support this program.”
When asked for his advice to whomever winds up being selected as his successor, Walker said the next Pioneer coach should realize the importance of building young talent.
“Continually, year-in and year-out, they’re going to have to mold, get kids stronger, and develop arms,” he said. “That’s something I feel we need to implement through the youth programs, and maybe even all the way to the softball fields.
“I just feel whoever comes in, we need to align our youth programs, the middle schools and the county schools. We need to take a serious approach to teaching fundamentals, and developing arm strength.”
As for his own future plans, Walker, who has a Masters degree in administration, said he could pursue a move in that direction, but would also be happy staying in his current role as an educator.
“With an administration degree, of course that option’s there,” he said. “But if that doesn’t occur, then I’m going to be content teaching biology.
“I love the classroom, and I want to stay active with youth in the schools. We’ll just see where that takes us.”
Walker balanced 119 wins against 87 losses during his head coaching career.