NEW COACH

Chris Hart is excited about his new coaching position. The middle school softball coach was named the head coach at Corbin High School last week, replacing Gary Akins.
Hart, a former Redhound football and baseball player said he was excited about the opportunity to coach the Lady Redhounds.
“I’m a graduate of Corbin, my parents were graduates of Corbin, my father played Redhound sports, I was a Redhound and I bleed Red and White and have Redhound Pride,” Hart said. “Just the opportunity to coach a varsity sport, especially a sport I love as much as fast pitch softball. I just fell in love with that sport about two years ago when my daughter started playing.”
“It’s just a wonderful opportunity and I am extremely excited about the opportunity to coach a team that’s already developed and that has some returning talent. It’s a good way to start a coaching career,” said Hart.
Hart will take over a team that finished with 20 wins, the most in school history. The Lady Redhounds were 50th district runners-up last season before losing to Middlesboro in the semifinals of the 13th Region Tournament.
Hart has high goals for this team. “If you play football you want to play in the Super Bowl, in baseball you want to play in the World Series. Our goal is to make it to the state tournament,” said Hart.
“We have a tough district, an extremely tough region that we play in and part of my job is to get the girls ready for those,” Hart said. “We are going to set our goals high, we want to get there, we want to make it to the best that you can.”
“Our goal is to play in the state tournament,” said Hart. “We know we have goals we have to set to get there such as the district and region. We are going to work on those goals. I believe in reaching for the top, otherwise I wouldn’t be in coaching.”
“I want to shoot for the best,” said Hart.
“We have a very talented team returning,” Hart said. “We have a very experienced team. We have a team that already knows a lot about the fundamentals. I don’t feel like I have a lot of work to do in that respect.”
“I want to work some with some team building and push them to be the best,” said Hart. “It’s the little things that make the difference, just doing the little extra things. I want to push them to be the best that they can be and get the most out of their ability.”
Hart would like to see his teams play a tough schedule. “You have to play your district schedule, then you have your conference that you are locked into,” Hart said. “There are some tough teams in the conference. It is not an easy conference by no means.”
“Outside of that, I want to go up and play North Laurel and keep them on the schedule,” Hart said. “I have not had a chance to look at our schedule, I am sure we will keep some of those teams on the schedule.”
“I want to add another tournament and maybe even host one here in Corbin,” said Hart. The Lady Redhounds won the first Cumberland Falls Classic last season on their home field.
“I definitely want to travel to another tournament because I believe in getting tournament experience on someone else’s field,” said Hart. “The district and region are not at home this year so we have to get experience in a tournament atmosphere on someone else’s field. We are going to look for a good tournament to go to with some good competition that will really push us.”
Hart is looking to expand his coaching staff, but concrete decisions have been made at this time. “We have openings for two assistant coaches,” said Hart.
“I want to bring in some staff that have experience and the love of the game,” he added. “I am real confident that I will have a top-notched staff.”