Jeffrey Bryan Dean was ready for a new challenge two years ago.
Dean’s Letcher County Central (Ky.) High School baseball team was coming off a trip to the state tournament and a 29-win season. In the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which doesn’t have size classifications to separate smaller schools from larger ones, it was natural for Dean’s success with the Cougars attracted attention and earned him interest from other schools that were looking for a baseball coach.
But Dean said family reasons — particularly the desire to stay close to two of his older children — played a role in his decision to stay at Letcher County Central High.
Dean’s choice turned out to be good news for Columbus High.
On Monday night, the Columbus Municipal School District approved the hiring of Dean as a teacher at Columbus High and as the school’s new baseball coach. Dean replaces Dallas Flippo, who resigned after spending this past season as the school’s interim baseball coach.
“My batteries are charged and I am ready to go,” Dean said Monday night. “We had success at Letcher County Central and went to state tournament three times in 10 years. … They were interested and I was interested, and I like the way the administration looks. It looks like they are positive and looking to go in a good direction and trying to build things. That’s what I am all about.”
Dean, 43, who goes by his middle name Bryan, graduated from Owsley County High (Ky.). He started his coaching career there in 1996 and moved on to Breathitt High (1996-97), and Lee County High (1999) before he accepted his first job as a head baseball coach at Powell County High (2000-05). He has spent the past 10 years as baseball coach at Letcher County Central High, which is in Region 14, District 53.
Dean didn’t have his coaching record Monday night, but he said he won 221 games in 10 years at Letcher County Central High.
Letcher County Central High is in Whitesburg, Kentucky, which is in the southeast part of the state. It is three hours northeast of Knoxville, Tennessee, and approximately 20 minutes from the state of Virginia.
Dean said he didn’t know very much about Columbus High until he started to investigate job opportunities in the South. He said he attended the Mississippi State-Alabama football game and the annual Iron Bowl game between Alabama and Auburn last year and enjoyed the area and the people. He said was interested in a coaching job at a school in Alabama and likely would have accepted that position in December, but he said the school didn’t have a teaching position available.
Dean then said he examined other job opportunities in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and south Mississippi and discovered the opening at Columbus High. He said he is eager to have a chance to play on a “level playing field” in the state of Mississippi, which will have six classifications for baseball through the 2017 season. Columbus will play in Class 6A, Region 2, District 2 with Hernando, South Panola, and Tupelo.
Dean has worked as a teacher for more than 17 years, and has been coaching baseball for 20 years. He said he knew early on he wanted to become a teacher and worked at a boys home before he accepted his first job as a teacher and as a coach. He said he moved around a lot early in his career in an attempt to realize his goal to find a job as a head coach. He feels the experience he gained from working at several schools will help him make the transition to a new state and a new school.
Dean and his wife, Dianna, have been married for two years. They will bring five kids, including an eight-month-old, to their new home in Mississippi.
Letcher County Central High had an enrollment of 941, according to the 2013-14 figures on the Kentucky High School Athletic Association website. His team went 14-23 this past season after losing eight seniors to graduation from the previous campaign.
Dean was in Columbus last week to see Columbus High kick off its summer league schedule against Starkville. He said he was encouraged by what he saw and that he liked the enthusiasm and respect the players showed him. He said his goal is to get the program back on track and competing for a spot in the Class 6A State tournament.
This past season, Columbus High went 3-13 after suffering key graduation losses. Prior to that, coach Jeff Cook guided the Falcons to the Class 6A playoffs for a school-record four consecutive seasons.
“I saw the banners (on the outfield wall for the years the baseball team has been to the playoffs), and hopefully (making the playoffs) will be something we’re able to do every year, and then advance a round or two in the playoffs and get up to the semifinals and to the state championship,” Dean said. “People I talked to (about coach Cook) said he did a really good job. Hopefully we can get the program there again.”
Dean said he hopes to follow an approach similar to the one he has used and been a part of at other schools. He said he will stress fundamental baseball and strong pitching and defense. From there, he said he will tailor his team’s offensive attack to its personnel. He said he is willing to sit back and to play “Earl Weaver” style of baseball, a la for longtime manager of the Baltimore Orioles, where his team hits doubles off the fence. If his team lacks power, he said he is willing to play “small ball,” which means using bunts, stolen bases, and hitting behind runners to score runs.
“We do have some athletes and team speed (at Columbus High),” Dean said. “I liked what I saw.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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