Life has a funny way of working out. Maybe a better way to phrase that is “God has a funny way of working life out.” Either way, I sometimes find solace in looking back at where I’ve been and where I am now. That includes with sports.
If you had told me five years ago that I would have four close friends working in the baseball coaching business, I wouldn’t have bought it. Since I’ve been in college, I’ve renewed friendships with people I knew in my school days at Houlka, including names like Sawyer Byars, Johnathon Huffman and Walker Winter, all who are young teachers and getting their feet wet in the coaching business. Sawyer is an assistant baseball coach and head junior high baseball coach at Calhoun City this season. Having him working in the county helps keep me updated on the goings on inside that program, and I’m excited 
about what his future holds.
Johnathon is the head baseball coach at Houlka. That’s a scary sentence if you look at it the wrong way. On top of teaching a state tested U.S. History class, Johnathon is called on to lead an entire sports program as well. Still, if anyone is cut out for that job, it’s him. I have no doubt about that. I think he’s found a place where he’s happy (it’s his alma mater, after all), and some young blood leading that program could be exciting for the future.
Then there’s Walker. He’s a junior high Spanish teacher at Pontotoc and helps with their junior high baseball program. Walker played baseball as a kid and a little bit in high school, but I never expected him to be a coach. I’m not sure he did either, to be frank. But he’s excited about this role, and I am too. I think he’s found his calling.
Wrapping up my coaching friends, I have Todd Harrell, assistant baseball coach at the Academy. Todd and I became friends through our mutual friend Brandon Walker shortly after I transferred to Vardaman my 10th grade year, and he’s always been a phenomenal athlete. Even as a volunteer assistant, he loves his school and his players, and those are hallmarks of a good coach.
For Sawyer, coaching is in his blood. His late father Jimbo Byars was my junior high football coach at Houlka and served as the team’s offensive coordinator in his time there. He was also the head baseball coach for many years, leading the Wildcats to a state runner-up position in 2004 before they fell to Cathedral out of Natchez. I was too young to remember that team, but I’ve heard it was pretty special.
Jimbo was a special man. Ask anyone and they’ll tell you the same. He was soft-spoken, much like his son, but he loved the games he coached, and, more importantly, he loved the kids he coached. His passing in 2012 is one of the hardest things I’ve ever been through, and it shook that school to its core. I still think about him most days and the lessons he helped instill in me on the football field, a sport that I was never very good in, but he coached me like I was. I’ve always appreciated that.
What I’m getting at is this: coaches have a way of impacting kids’ lives that we don’t always comprehend. These kids are around coaches probably more than any other adult figure during the school day, whether it be in the classroom or at a game or practice. The way that these coaches lead these young men and women helps shape them for their future, not just athletically, but off the field as well.
In short, I’m proud that I have good friends who are in this business. I think they’ll do well in their coaching duties, but more importantly, I think they’ll do well by the kids that cross their paths.