Two new head coaches and an assistant coach have been named to lead a couple of Russellville High School teams, Athletic Director Nathan Thompson has announced.
The new head softball coach is Brandy Nuyt Trimble of Adairville. The head soccer coach is Alex Watkins, who will be assisted by his friend and former teammate, Jonathan White.
Trimble is a 2000 graduate of Logan County High School, where she was a five-year starter for the Logan County Cougars from 1996 through the 2000 season. While at LCHS she was named to the all 13th District Team three years. She went on to attend Campbellsville University where she was a four-year starter for the Campbellsville University Tigers during the 2000-2004 seasons.
Although this will be Trimble’s first high school head coaching position, she has given pitching, fielding, and hitting lessons at the Southern Kentucky Sports Plex for the past two years. She plans on using her playing experience to guide her in her coaching career. In her full-time work, she serves as a health educator for the Barren River Health Department.
Thompson says, “We are very excited to have been able to hire a coach with the knowledge, passion, and ability to teach the game of softball to our student-athletes. We are confident in Brandy’s abilities to take our program to the next level, and I know she is anxious and excited to get started.”
Thompson replaces Greg Meacham, who has been head softball coach for the Lady Panthers the past two seasons.
The LoJo
Alex Watkins has been hired as the new head soccer coach. He replaces Kathryn Crawford and Chelsey Veatch, who coached the Panthers last season.
Watkins is a 2005 graduate of Russellville High School and was a two-year starter for the Panther soccer team during the 2001-2002 seasons, mostly as striker and midfielder. Watkins plans on using his playing experience to guide him in his coaching career. He also played quarterback on the football team and was an outstanding tennis doubles player.
Prior to coaching at Russellville; Alex has two years of previous coaching experience at Logan County High School. During the 2011 season, Alex was the head coach for the Middle School Team and the assistant coach for the varsity team.
Thompson, a former head soccer coach at RHS, says, “We are very excited to have been able to hire a coach with the knowledge, passion, and ability to teach the game of soccer to our student-athletes. We are confident in Alex’s abilities to take our program to the next level, and I know he is anxious and excited to get started.”
Watkins’ assistant will be his friend Jonathan White, who is called ‘Woody’ by many of his friends.
White is a 2006 graduate of Russellville High School and was a four-year starter for the RHS soccer team during the 2002-2005 seasons, mostly as goalkeeper. He was named all-district as a senior. White plans on using his playing experience to guide him in his coaching career. He also played baseball and basketball during his years at RHS.
Prior to coaching at Russellville; White has two years of previous coaching experience at Logan County High School. During the 2011 season at LCHS, he was the assistant coach on the Middle School, JV, and Varsity teams. During the 2012 season, Jonathan was the head coach for the Middle School and JV Lady Cougars and the assistant coach for the varsity team. This past spring, he served as the head coach for the U12 Girls Impact travel team.
Both Watkins and White are sports enthusiasts. While at Western Kentucky University, Watkins worked as a student assistant in sports information and continues to be part of the stat crew for many WKU and high school events. He also is a color commentator for WRUS on football broadcasts.
White is an enthusiastic supporter of WKU athletics. He and friend Adam Haley have an online site devoted to covering Hilltopper sports. His dad, Johnny White, was an assistant baseball coach for the Panthers this year.
Both men are involved in church ministries. Watkins is minister of music and worship at New Friendship Baptist Church in the Auburn area. White is youth pastor at Adairville Baptist church and also works at Hibbett Sports in Russellville.
Thompson expressed similar confidence in White as he did in Trimble and Watkins.
Much room for improvement awaits the new coaches. Lady Panther softball went 1-55 in Meacham’s two years, as he worked primarily with players who were freshmen and younger. In the last four years, the softball team went 3-89 and during the past seven seasons the Lady Panthers put together a 13-149 record. The last RHS softball team to win more than four games was the 2006 squad, which went 9-16 under Thompson’s dad Tom.
From 2001-10, the soccer team went 30-125-8. The last two years, there weren’t enough players to field a varsity team.