By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director

SPRING GARDEN – Corey Goodson has had success at every high school baseball program he’s coached at during his career. Now he’s looking to continue that success at Spring Garden.

Goodson was officially approved as the new head baseball coach at Spring Garden by the Cherokee County Board of Education on Thursday morning. He will take over the Panther baseball program from Kyle Garmon, who was promoted to principal at the end of the school year after guiding Spring Garden to a 34-23 overall record in two seasons, with playoff berths in both seasons.

The Panthers went 18-13 last season and reached the second round of the Class 1A state playoffs before losing to eventual state champion Hubbertville.

Goodson comes to Spring Garden from Class 6A Buckhorn. In his three seasons there, Goodson guided the Bucks to two area championships with playoff appearances in all three years.

Prior to his stint at Buckhorn, Goodson coached Class 2A Vincent and guided that program to an area title and the Elite 8. He has also coached several seasons at Class 5A Central of Clay County and began his coaching career at Coosa Valley Academy in Harpersville, where he guided that program to an AISA state runner-up.

“I’m excited to add a little bit to what they’ve been doing at Spring Garden,” Goodson said. “I’m not going to try and reinvent the wheel. They’ve been successful. I’m just going to put my spin on it and see if we can take that next step.

“I think Spring Garden has a great culture. I’m excited about that. You don’t really have to mold much. It’s already a good program. I’m just going to have to put my twist on certain things. I’ve got to do things the way I know how. I’m not going to do a lot different. I’m just going to build upon what’s already there.”

After coaching at some bigger programs in the state, Goodson said he missed being in the small-school atmosphere. He and his wife Lauren also wanted to get closer to home.

Goodson is a native of Sylacauga and Lauren is from Harpersville. The couple has two children in six-year-old Beckett and five-year-old Reece.

“It was just one of those situations where it was time to come back toward home. This gave us an opportunity to get back closer to family, where our kids could see their grandparents,” Goodson said.

“The job opened up. I really didn’t know that much about Spring Garden, to be honest, but I saw the opening. I got called to come there. It’s a small-school atmosphere, kind of like when we were at Vincent. At Vincent, we were (grades) 6-12, and I saw those sixth graders all the way through 12th grade.”

After interviewing for the Spring Garden position, Goodson realized it was “the perfect situation.”

“You can just feel the atmosphere. It’s just different,” Goodson said. “Everybody is pulling the same way from the top down. It just makes for a good situation.”

Goodson will also be assisting with the Panther football program this fall.

“I coached football for 10 years and I was a DC (defensive coordinator) for seven of those 10,” Goodson said. “I don’t know what I’ll be doing, but I don’t care. I’m just excited to get back and get my hands on it. There’s nothing like Friday nights in Alabama. I love baseball, but you kind of miss those Friday nights when you’re not a part of them anymore. I’m excited to get back to that aspect of it.”

As for what to expect from his baseball teams, Goodson said it’s all about doing the small things right.

“I am a stickler for playing clean baseball,” he said. “We’re going to have our shirts tucked in. We’re going to have our hats on right. We’re going to get on and off the field. We’re going to do cuts right. We’re going to do bunt coverages right. We’re going to put the ball in play. We’re going to hit with two strikes. We’re going to throw strikes. If you can throw strikes and play defense, you can stay in a lot of games. We’re going to know what we’re doing, be clean, and not lose games.

“I just think if you watch us play it’s going to be ‘Man, this team does all the right things.’ We’re going to be there to win. We might get beat, but you’re not going to beat us by us not being prepared.”

Now that he’s officially on board, Goodson said he can’t wait to get started.

“I’m excited to get to work,” he said. “I’m excited to get to know the community and get to work with the kids. I’ve already met a couple of them. I’m just ready for the school year to get started.”