Byrd joins CHS Baseball staff
A familiar name has just signed on as an assistant coach for Clinton High School baseball.
Jonathan Byrd, brother of head coach Matt Byrd, recently left as head coach of Giles County, to join the Dragons’ staff.
“I was ready to get back home to East Tennessee and Matt coaching here, plus the great community and the facilities we have to work with here, it was a no-brainer for me,” he said of his decision to come to Clinton.
Matt said his brother would be in charge of pitchers and catchers as well as coaching hitting.
“He’s going to have a lot of responsibilities, a lot more than any other assistant coach because I’ve got that trust level and obviously he has the knowledge. He’s used to being a head coach. He’s still going to have a lot of freedom and I’m going to let him coach,” Matt said.
Jonathan served as head coach at Giles County for two years. Prior to that, he was pitching and catching coach at Martin Methodist College for three years. Byrd graduated from Bearden High School, where he played baseball. From there, he went on to Columbia State and then onto Martin Methodist College.
His coaching philosophy is simple: “Playing hard with good fundamentals.”
“I want pitchers who fill up the strike zone for guys to make plays behind them but more than anything, you’ve got to score runs to win games and one thing we’re really going to focus on this year is we’re going to get bigger, stronger, and we’re going to hit the ball hard. We’re going to hit the ball in the gaps. If we can do that, we’re going to be successful,” Jonathan said.
Noting the Dragons’ struggles at the plate during the 2017 season, Matt said his team lost only two seniors.
“Everybody has a year experience under their belts. This year we were very young and very weak physically. Our main goal in the off-season is to get stronger and we’re going to do a lot of hitting. It’s going to pay off. You’re going to see a lot of guys step up,” he said.
Matt added that having his brother on staff was great for his family.
“Instead of our parents having to drive three and a half hours to watch him coach it will be pretty neat for them to see one team play all year,” he said.
