ACA looking for new softball coach after new hiree returns to former school
By TIM GAYLE
Three weeks after hiring a softball coach, Alabama Christian Academy administrators found themselves in the unenviable position of having to do it again.
Mollie Lowry was announced as the new softball coach on June 28. Three weeks later, on July 20, Lowry turned in her notice and returned to Mars Hill Bible.
“Her heart was still at Mars Hill,” ACA athletic director Aaron Greenwood said. “Any time you leave a place like that, she spent the last month getting phone calls from parents and players, ‘please come back.’”
With less than two weeks before the 2023-24 school year starts, ACA administrators are up against a tight deadline with three options: hire a coach who can also teach in the school, hire a coach who lives in the area and won’t teach at the school or hire someone already at the school who can handle the team on an interim basis until administrators go through the process again at the end of the approaching school year.
“Anytime you are hiring, you look through three buckets,” Greenwood said. “The ideal scenario is a full-time employee where they’re on campus every day, they’re seeing the kids in the hallway. Over the last week, we’ve been working hard to find a full-time employee that we can get in here that would do a great job that, fits our mission, and fits a need that we have in the classroom. At this point, we’ve really been drilling hard on trying to do that.”
Starting this week, Greenwood said the focus will “place more of an emphasis” on community coaches that will not be employed full-time by the school. However, there are obvious limitations in hiring a community coach that isn’t on campus.
Regardless, the optimum time to hire a coach is at the end of the school year in May. With each passing week, it gets harder to hire a coach. By the first of August, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to find a coach willing to leave their current job to fill a similar role at another school.
“There are a lot of people that I’ve talked to in the last week,” Greenwood said, “that think highly of ACA and are appreciative of being considered but …. don’t want to leave their principal, school in that spot. I can respect that.
“If we’re not able to make headway on finding (a teacher who can fill a position) on campus, then we’ll shift to finding somebody off campus. We’ll dig a little more into the travel ball world. But I haven’t pursued much of the off-campus folks this week. It’s been primarily focused on on-campus.”
There is an obvious goal of Aug. 10, the first day of school, that is looming, although Greenwood said the deadline is flexible.
“There are a couple of positions you could start the school year without and you’d be OK,” he said. “Obviously, that’s not your full-time traditional teaching spot but there are ways we can get creative.
Obviously, other options might have to be considered, but Greenwood remains optimistic he can find a new coach as head of school Greg Glenn and Greenwood continue to pursue possible candidates.
“Mr. Glenn and I have talked about this a lot and we’re going to trust in the Lord on this one,” Greenwood said. “He’s got a plan. I wish I knew it right now, but He’s got a plan, we’ve got to trust in the Lord and do our due diligence to find what’s best for our program.
“It’s a challenging time but all you can do is your best and work to continue to build it every single day. At the end of the day, we’re going to trust in the Lord and find what works best for ACA. We’re going to find what works best for our group of student-athletes that can help us continue to move this program the way we want to, to continue to serve it justice for all the players that have come before. We’re not going to sacrifice. There’s too much at stake with the history of this program.”