Montgomery new baseball coach at CHS
The search for a new baseball coach at Calhoun High School is now over.
It was announced Monday night that Matt Montgomery would be the next Jackets skipper. Approved unanimously by the Board of Education, he will also teach physical education at the middle school level beginning in the 202223 school year.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to be chosen as the next head baseball coach at Calhoun,” Montgomery said. “Growing up in the Northwest Georgia area and seeing how much baseball means to the Calhoun community is something I am extremely excited about joining. Coach Chip Henderson is a legend in Georgia and I look forward to talking with him and continuing to build upon his legacy.”
Montgomery said his program will be about more than baseball.
“My mission is to create a program that uses baseball as a way to teach life lessons in order to build Godly men of integrity, character, and class,” he said.
Most recently having served as head baseball and head softball coach at Woodland High School, Montgomery is a three-time state champion — twice as high school player in both baseball and football, and once as an assistant baseball coach.
“I’d like to thank the Calhoun City Board of Education, Superintendent Dr. Michele Taylor, CHS Principal Mrs. Casey Parker, and CCS Athletic Director Dr. Brock Holley for the opportunity to represent this proud and historic program.”
Montgomery is a University of Georgia graduate. He is married to Latasha and has two children, Blair and Harper.
According to the school system, an opportunity for players, parents, and the community to meet Coach Montgomery will be announced after the season is complete.
Montgomery was hired to replace the recently departed Beau Edwards, who abruptly left the program before his first year was complete.
Edwards was hired on as the new head coach last spring, replacing longtime head coach Chip Henderson, who won three state titles and had the Yellow Jackets playing for a couple of more. In fact, Henderson was so successful that his uniform number was retired and the baseball field at Calhoun High School was named after him.
But about a month ago, Edwards announced he was leaving Calhoun to become the new Athletic Director at Ola High School. A former Henderson assistant coach, Greg Green, has been the interim man in charge ever since.
Athletic Director Brock Holley said while the uncertainty of the situation has been tough since Edwards’ surprising decision, he praised the Calhoun baseball team for the way they have dealt with it.
“I want to commend our players for the way they’ve handled all this,” Holley said. “I know they had to be caught as off-guard as everybody was when Beau said he was leaving and they’re the ones that are directly affected by something like this, because they’re the players and Beau was their coach.
“But they’ve handled this very well. They’ve just kept coming in every day and working hard, which is all you can ask. So those young men deserve a shout out for the way they’ve handled all this. I know the last thing we, and they, were expecting was for them to be playing for a different head coach at this point in the season, but we certainly wish Beau the best in his new endeavor and the young men on our baseball team have just kept working hard to get this behind them.”