There’s been a change this season of HHS Baseball: a whole new coaching staff. In total, there are seven new coaches this year. Head Coach Chad Mulholland and Assistant Coaches Kyle Hudson, Steve Miller, Bill Serena, and more. Both the coaches and the team are excited to be back on the field and working hard. “We were pushed a lot more in the off-season because we knew how good we could be and being pushed just that little bit more has sent us pretty far,” says Nick Hubbard. (12)
Coach Mulholland meticulously put together his staff himself. Having been in the world of baseball for 38 years (including playing professionally for the Toronto Bluejays) and growing up in Herrin, he “couldn’t be happier, this place is great, the kids are great, it’s nice to be back home and see familiar faces for sure…couldn’t ask for more.” Along with him, there’s Assistant Coach Kyle Hudson, who had coached for four years before being called away by family life and is now being called back by Coach Mulholland to coach again. He “couldn’t be more excited” to be back in the game. Growing up in Herrin and having graduated from HHS himself, I find it “great to be back” and “this group of kids [has] a lot of talent, and it’s good to see them be able to use that talent.” There’s also Steve Miller, who is a JV Coach and a Varsity Assistant Coach. Coach Miller has been coaching for many years now and coached Head Coach Mulholland when Mulholland was himself a student at HHS. Coach Miller was also recruited by Coach Mulholland for this season, much like Bill Serena, another Varsity Assistant Coach. Coach Serena coached travel ball league before returning to Herrin, where his son played when he was a student at HHS. His biggest goal is “making sure the kids are enjoying it and learning something new every day.” Much like other coaches, has “seen huge strides in everything from hitting to fielding to attitudes between teammates,” making him excited for the future of this team.
The new coaches have given the players a lofty goal: to win the conference. So far, the team has been doing great with five wins and five losses as of 1 April. This is already much better than last year, with more wins under their belt now than in the entirety of last year’s season. The attitudes of players and their coaches are doing great too. Junior Harper Shoemaker says the new Head Coach is “doing a great job” and the team is “doing way better than last year, we’re winning games and the teams are doing pretty good.” Head Coach Mulholland confirmed, saying, “Everybody is for each other instead of fighting against each other. All we can do is keep improving the little things every day, keep getting a little bit better every day.” With all of this improvement, they’re well on their way to reaching their goals. As Coach Hudson said, the coaches and team hope to “grow not only as athletes but as young adults” on their way to their second goal: winning the conference.
The future of the 2025 Herrin Tigers Baseball team sits on the shoulders of these coaches and players. The culmination of their hard work and talents can be seen at their next big game vs. Carterville on the 7th of April. This will be their first conference match and they’ll be facing off against long-time school rivals.
