MORGAN COUNTY
After a short but thorough search, Morgan County has hired its new head baseball coach.
“After a thorough search for a new head baseball coach, Morgan County is excited to announce the appointment of Steve Westmoreland for this position,” the Morgan County Charter School System stated last week in a press release. “Westmoreland’s hire, pending Morgan County Board of Education approval, will bring a wealth of coaching experience and an impressive track record.”
At Monday night’s meeting, the Morgan County Charter School System unanimously approved Westmoreland as the new face of the Bulldogs’ baseball program. Westmoreland comes to Morgan County after spending the last 14 years as the head baseball coach at Harris County High School.
Westmoreland explained to the Lake Oconee News he is excited about this new opportunity, and that he is familiar with the program’s success after spending time at Elbert County in the early 2000s.
“Obviously, the community was something that I was familiar with from my years at Elbert County,” Westmoreland said. “You can combine that with the facilities and administration that are already in place, plus I have also talked to coaches in the area that know the kind of players that are here. When you put it all together, it seems to be a place you come in and build off all the success they’ve had the past eight or nine years. It gives you a chance to win and do something special.”
Before applying for the position, Westmoreland did his “due diligence” and made a few phone calls. He was able to learn about the community and how it all centered around the only high school, which was appealing to him. So, that is when he decided to send an application for the job.
“I liked what I had heard about Morgan County. So, I did it the old-fashioned way, and I actually sent in an application,” he added. “Coach [Doug] Connelly contacted me and then we went from there.”
The former Harris County head coach replaces Merritt Ainslie, who spent the past eight years at the helm. As the former Bulldogs head coach, Ainslie led the program to new heights in his tenure.
Morgan County won the Region 4-AAA championship in 2023 under Ainslie’s direction and made it to the second round of the Class AAA state playoffs before being knocked out by Columbus.
Westmoreland is looking to build off that success as the Bulldogs return a lot of talent next season. The Bulldogs are primed to be one of the top programs in all of Class AAA heading into 2024.
The new Morgan County head coach met with the players and parents for a meet-and-greet on Tuesday. Now, he is set to actually go watch the returning Bulldogs compete in various summer leagues.
“I’ve followed a few of the current players’ profiles on Perfect Game and PBR [baseball],” he said. “I am also going to try and get out to watch as many of their travel league games as I can over the next couple of weeks. However, I am extremely excited to take over with a really young, talented team.
“I think what is important in conversations with the returning coaches and players is finding out what they did well. Continue to build off that, but also maybe identify some things that we need to focus on and be better at. We need to try to put those two things together. Obviously, the past seven or eight years have been very successful, so we take what they have done and build off of that.”
Westmoreland was an assistant baseball coach and head softball coach at Parkview in Gwinnett County from 2005 to 2009. Prior to his time at Parkview, he was at Elbert County, where he was an assistant softball coach, assistant and head baseball coach and head softball coach from 2001 to 2005.
Westmoreland accepted the job at Harris County in 2009. During his tenure, the Tigers made the state playoffs in 12 out of 13 seasons. He also won three region titles and made the Elite Eight three times. Westmoreland is one of the winningest coaches in Harris County baseball program history.
“The communities are very similar, and are built around the one high school in the system,” he said. “I think what I am most excited about is over the last 14 years, a lot of the times it’s through trial and error, but it’s kind of whittled down to what works well. You figure some things out and try some new things. We’re going to be able to take the best of what we did well at Harris County and try to implement that here [at Morgan County] with what they’ve already done well.”
Westmoreland is a LaGrange naive. He, along with his wife Amber, is excited to become part of the Morgan County community. The couple has two children, Hailey and Carter, who will also be joining the school district. They will all be moving to Madison this summer.