Whittle back to lead Trinity baseball, at least for a little while

Ken Whittle, who led Trinity between 1981 and 2021, returns to coach the Wildcats in 2024 after Jared Cook moved to Lee-Scott Academy. (File Photo)

By TIM GAYLE

It’s nearly impossible to find a head coach once the school year starts, so Trinity ended its coaching search by turning to a familiar face to coach the Wildcats in 2024.

Hall of Fame coach Ken Whittle, who retired from the program at the end of the 2021 season, will return in 2024 on an interim basis, ending a 10-day search to replace Jarrod Cook.

Cook, who took over for Whittle in 2022 and 2023, stepped down on July 31 to become the new baseball coach at Lee-Scott Academy in Auburn.

“I’m just here to hold the rope until they can find the next guy,” Whittle said. “They didn’t want to rush and I didn’t want them to rush, either. You don’t want to rush something like this.”

Trinity interim head of school Suzanne Satcher said Whittle was a logical choice to serve as an interim hire until school administrators can conduct a thorough search next spring. 

“We are very happy to announce that Coach Whittle is coming back to lead our players,” Satcher said. “It’s a blessing to have such an accomplished coach and loving figure at Trinity for another season. We could not be happier to have Coach Whittle at the helm of our baseball program.”

New athletic director Brian Seymore had hired Chad Mansmann as a baseball assistant to replace Brad Parker after Parker left for Montgomery Academy, but having little more than a week to hire a quality head coach before the start of school was virtually impossible.

“On behalf of Trinity athletics and the entire Trinity family, I am pleased to welcome Coach Whittle back to campus,” Seymore said. “Coach Whittle is an institution at Trinity and he exemplifies our mission to glorify God in everything we do. His achievements as a baseball coach are unparalleled.  But his greatest legacy is the impact he has had on the lives of generations of Trinity student athletes.  Quite simply, there is no better person to lead Trinity baseball at this time and we are blessed to have him back.”

Trinity administrators moved quickly, but unsuccessfully, to replace Cook, asking Whittle to serve on a search committee to find Cook’s replacement.

“I got a phone call from Suzanne and she wanted me to be on the committee and we could start looking for a coach,” Whittle said. “I said I would make some phone calls and do some things and all of a sudden Brian calls me into the office and says, hey, we want you to do this, would you consider it? I said I’ll have to talk to my wife and make sure we’re on the same page.

“She’s been a part of it as long as I have. There’s a natural love and affection for the program. I wanted to make sure I got the OK from her.”

Whittle, 69, helped start the program in 1979 and restarted it on a permanent basis in 1981, serving for 41 years until his retirement in 2021. Since the current playoff format was adopted in 1989 -- featuring the area champion and the area runner-up -- Trinity has made the playoffs every year but once. Seventeen of Whittle’s 32 teams in that span reached the quarterfinals, creating a standard of excellence few programs can match.

He was inducted into the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s Hall of Fame in 2012, serving for another nine years before retiring with a 783-371 record that ranks fourth all time among AHSAA baseball coaches. Trinity’s baseball field was renamed in his honor in 2021.  

“I just want to help,” Whittle said. “I am not the answer, I know it, I just want to be a part of it again. These (current seniors) were ninth graders when I retired. I just want them to have the opportunity to have somebody they know that has been around a little bit.” 

While the seniors have played for Whittle, the veteran coach may need a few preseason moments to familiarize himself with some of the younger players. The same can be said for Mansmann, his new assistant. 

“I’m getting to know him,” Whittle said. “I forgot that we kind of coached against each other when he was at Marbury. I’m real excited to get to know him. I’m looking forward to talking a little baseball, what he likes, what I like, what works for him, what works for me. It should be interesting, comparing notes on the way we look at things philosophically.”