Former softball head coach returns
Eric Tedders has returned as softball head coach of the Gilmer High School Lady Cats.
Tedders, who just wrapped up his 15th year as an educator, previously held the head coaching position for five seasons from 2007 through 2011. He accepted the job at the end of last fall when Amanda Mullis stepped down after two seasons at the helm.
“It was one of those things that I’ve always been interested in, but it comes down to time,” Tedders said when asked about his return to the Lady Cats’ dugout.
“When I stepped down the first time was when my first child (Bogart) was born, and you have to have time for that. There was a need for a coach and an interest. It was one of those things where it was almost fortuitous that we got to that point.
“Part of it is helping out. I like our administration so if I can do something I’ll do it to help out. Another thing is I know the girls and this is a good group.”
In addition to Bogart (9), Tedders and wife Cheri also have 3-year-old twin sons Fleet and Murphy. Since his last stint as Lady Cats’ head coach he was a baseball assistant for two seasons but time became too scarce once again.
“I tried to help out with baseball a couple years and the schedule worked until Cheri was pregnant with the other two, and with all the doctor visits and that stuff, I couldn’t be there committed full time.
“The boys are getting to the age where I can do this and not miss as much right now. We’re in that transition with their ages.”
In Tedders’ first season in 2007, the program was still going through some of the growing pains of fully transitioning from slow pitch to a fast pitch program.
In the nine years during Tedders’ hiatus, GHS advanced to the state tournament four times, including the previous two seasons. The Cats won the region title in 2020, and made it to the Sweet 16 in 2014 and 2015 under coach Kim Charles.
“When I got here the first time, there was a lot of rebuilding,” Tedders said. “I think when I left, things were in a lot better position for someone to come in. Now, I just hope I don’t mess up where we’ve gotten it to.”
Tedders has been tasked with assembling a coaching staff as all three assistants from last year are no longer with the program. Joining Tedders will be Todd Gibson, who is also a baseball assistant, as well as GHS alumni softball players Karli Loudermilk and Amberley Chandler.
In regard to the staff transition, Tedders said, “I know most of these girls because I’ve had them in class. They’ve been good so far. They’ve been doing the things we ask them to get done and it’s been mostly positive. They’ve helped make it a lot easier transition that it could have been.”
During June the Cats have met for four hours every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. The first half of their time has been spent focusing on weight training and conditioning before hitting the field and batting cages over the final two hours.
Tedders has been pleased with what he has seen so far from the Lady Cats. Gilmer graduated three starters off last year’s 19-6 team, which includes ace pitcher Isabella Chastain.
“If we get pitching fixed then we have a really good chance to be good,” he said. “I don’t know what the rest of the region looks like, but I think it would be hard to find a better set of position players. We don’t have depth, but we have really good players at most of our positions. They hit well, too.”
The Cats will continue their practice and conditioning schedule through the end of the month ahead of the GHSA’s mandated dead week beginning June 28. The training regimen will remain the same in early July before transitioning into an afternoon practice schedule to get acclimated to the heat.
“I want to make sure we’re on the same page with everything,” Tedders said of what he wants to accomplish over the remainder of the offseason. “It’s still summer, and I expect them to go on vacations during this nonmandatory period. We’ll probably start hammering things out more in the last weeks of July.
“We’re moving some people around to different positions just to try to create a little bit of depth. I want to make sure I have a backup in place where we’ll need a backup. Our first nine are solid. After that, if we have an injury or something, we’ll have work to do. We’re just trying to develop that part.”
Gilmer has three exhibitions scheduled during July and opens the regular season Aug. 2 at home versus Sprayberry.