STARKVILLE — Justin Brewer thought about the opportunity and decided it was too good to pass up.
After putting off Copiah-Lincoln Community College at first when a job as assistant baseball coach came open, Brewer decided to take the job after one season as the head baseball coach at Starkville Academy.
Brewer was also an assistant football coach for the Volunteers. He wrapped up his responsibilities Friday in a 31-14 loss to Pillow Academy.
Brewer had his bags packed and left Saturday morning for Wesson, but he didn’t make a hasty decision when Co-Lin coach Keith Case called him in August.
“They called me the night before school started and I said I couldn’t do it because going in right before school started and resigning wasn’t the right thing to do,” Brewer said. “We talked again about three weeks later and we started discussing coming at Christmas and everything fell into place.”
Brewer went 14-16 last season as baseball coach. Even though he didn’t envision leaving Starkville Academy after one year, getting to the next level in coaching is something Brewer wanted to do.
Brewer said he grew attached to the Volunteers after being at the school for five years.
“I had been there for such a long time and it was my first job,” Brewer said. “The kids and people are real special to me, but it’s a dream we’ve always wanted to achieve and it’s an opportunity at a young age to start working toward higher goals.”
Being able to work with a coach like Case, who has been at Co-Lin for 19 years, is a bonus.
“It’s going to be great to sit back and learn on a daily basis from someone who’s been around the game for 20 years,” Brewer said.
Starkville Academy Athletic Director Glenn Schmidt said the school already has started the process to hire a new baseball coach.
“We’ve interviewed some people,” Schmidt said. “We could have someone in here by the end of next week.”
Danny P Smith is the Assistant Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
