New WHS baseball head coach talks hopes for the future

Recently, Williamsburg Independent Schools announced the hiring of their newest varsity baseball head coach, Brennan Patrick.

Patrick, a native of Nashville, Tenn., played baseball at Cumberland University (Tenn.), later returning there to serve as an assistant coach and head coach of the junior varsity team.

Before landing the job at Williamsburg, Patrick was an assistant coach at the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy, which is an NAIA school located in the St. Louis area.

Prior to the tipoff of the Yellow Jacket basketball team’s game against visiting Lynn Camp last week, Patrick was on hand just outside the gymnasium for a meet-and-greet event that allowed him to get to know members of the community, and interact with supporters of the school’s baseball program.

“It has been a blessing,” Patrick said of becoming Williamsburg’s newest head coach. “This has been my dream since I was in college. I went to college for the purpose of becoming a coach, and to be able to actually be one at age 28 is very exciting.”

Patrick said that he will serve as a math interventionist at the school initially, with other duties likely to be added at a later date.

As for the baseball team, Patrick said that he hasn’t been able to do much yet aside from a couple of meetings with players.

“I’m trying to not throw a bunch of stuff at them right away,” Patrick explained. “I think it is important to establish a sense of trust between them and me first. We will be a young team, which is nice, because I will have the opportunity to coach them for at least a couple of years.”

Patrick said that he is planning on taking things one day at a time right now, with practices slated to get underway this week. With several underclassmen on the roster, as well as a crop of players coming up from the middle school, he said that it will be important for the team to keep their collective eye on the big picture goals of contending for championships, but to also understand that there are necessary steps to take in order to get to that point.

“We want to focus on putting together a winning season, and then build on that,” Patrick said.

As for his initial feelings on the community, Patrick said, “Everyone has been great so far, and the support that athletics has here is huge. In college, you don’t always get that.”

Patrick inherits a Yellow Jackets team that went 13-17 in 2023, and won a 13th Region All “A” championship title in the final year of former Head Coach Bryan Hopkins’ ten-year tenure at the helm.

Look here next week for more spring sports preview material in the pages of the News Journal!