BREAKING: Trinity baseball coach Cook leaving for Lee-Scott Academy
Jarrod Cook took over for legendary coach Ken Whittle and promptly led the Trinity Wildcats to a state championship in 2022. He is leaving the program for Lee-Scott Academy. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Jarrod Cook reached his decision on Sunday night and it certainly didn’t happen without a lot of thought and prayer.
But after looking down the road at the future of two high school athletic programs, the former Trinity baseball coach thought his best choice would be to accept a similar position at Lee-Scott Academy.
Cook was preparing for his 15th season at Trinity and third as the head baseball coach when he was approached by Lee-Scott officials who were looking for a successor to Tim Hudson as the Warriors look to possibly make the transition from an Alabama Independent School Association program to an Alabama High School Athletic Association member.
Cook notified both programs of his decision on Monday morning and addressed his baseball players at a team meeting.
“It’s really just God’s timing,” Cook said. “I’ve just learned in my faith and through my career you’ve got to say yes to God and no to people. It’s a good situation, great place to live, similarities between Trinity and Lee-Scott. Auburn has always been a place where my wife and I have talked about living. With everything that has unfolded at Trinity and the direction we’re going, we felt like this was a better direction for me and my family.”
Over the last four months, the school has replaced its head of school, athletic director, head football coach and seven of its eight football assistants, with only softball coach Stan Milton returning to help new coach Brian Seymore’s staff.
“It’s just not something we’re used to at Trinity,” Cook said. “We won’t know why these changes are happening and may not see that for a long time, but for the time being, this is what’s best. I’ve got to think more than just baseball. Our program was in a really good place. But I’ve poured so much into other kids for so long and missed time with my own kids. Now it’s time to do what’s right for my kids and my family.”
Seymore said the search would begin immediately for a replacement.
“He was my D-line coach,” Seymore said. “Now we’ve got to find another football coach. We’ve got to find somebody to fill that role as well as find the best baseball coach we can to fit the program.”
Seymore had recently hired Chad Mansmann from Marbury to replace baseball and football assistant Brad Parker, who left for Montgomery Academy. Seymore said Mansmann, a 2007 Edgewood Academy graduate, “will be a candidate” to replace Cook as the Wildcats conduct a hasty search as the first day of school approaches.
Seymore, who came to Trinity in May from Demopolis, acknowledged veteran Demopolis coach James Moody is another obvious candidate. Moody, a member of Trinity’s first state championship team in 1985, coached at Demopolis from 1994-2006 before returning to serve as Ken Whittle’s top assistant at Trinity in 2007 and 2008. He returned to Demopolis in 2009.
Cook, a Georgia native, pitched at Southern Union Community College in 2001-03 before moving on to AUM and coach Q.V. Lowe in 2005 and 2006. The following year, while Whittle and Moody were at Trinity, Cook was an assistant for Russ Brooks at Montgomery Academy in 2007-09. Since the 2010 season, he helped continue the Trinity tradition, helping Whittle to state titles in 2012, 2013 and 2015 and to the state baseball playoffs in 33 of the last 34 years.
Cook added the final two playoff berths after being named the head coach in May, 2021, leading the Wildcats to a 33-7 record and the school’s seventh baseball title in his first season in 2022 and to the 4A quarterfinals and a 22-14 record in 2023.
Thinking back on the years he spent at Trinity, that same feeling was prevalent as he toured Lee-Scott Academy recently.
“I talked to Dr. (Stan) Cox (head of school) and the athletic director, William Johnson, and it just felt like family, felt like home, felt like a piece of the Trinity I know,” Cook said. “I had phone calls from several in the community, Coach (Tim) Hudson being one of those, and he assured me the program was in good hands. I haven’t heard a negative thing about Lee-Scott Academy. I’m excited to be walking into a well-established program.”
Cook will be replacing Hudson, the former Auburn assistant and Major League pitcher who took over the Warriors in 2023. Cook will be the program’s fourth baseball coach in the last six years.