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Alan Red Watkins is ready to serve the community as the Springwood School’s head baseball coach. 

It was announced a couple of weeks ago that Gene Bowles would take the helm for Wildcat Baseball. However, Bowles’ wife, a longtime Point University softball coach, got a position out of state, necessitating a new search. 

The first call was an easy one for Springwood Athletic Director Joey Burch. Watkins had the exact experience needed for the job because he had already done the job. Watkins was Springwood’s baseball head coach for three years starting in 2012. 

“Springwood did a lot for my son and I’ll always be grateful. So I’m going to work my tail off. I’m going to make sure their kids are the number one priority,” Watkins said.

Aside from baseball, Watkins was also a longtime assistant football coach; a position he will resume for the Varsity squad, along with head coach of the Springwood PeeWee team. 

“Coaching is a passion. It really is. I’ve been a high school umpire for 18 years and referee high school football. The only time I took off of refereeing high school football, I was coaching football,” Watkins said. 

He loves both sports deeply. Most of Watkins’s free time is spent on a ball field. A happy side-effect of being an umpire in the area is that he already knows most of his players from rec or travel ball leagues. 

While his roots are deep in Springwood, they are also transplanted. Watkins said he was born and bred a Valley Ram. He came to the Lanett school when his son transferred in as a sophomore. 

While he is focused on the football season, he is already thinking about the baseball season in the Spring. 

“Probably the first week of December, we will start throwing, working out and running and swing the bat for baseball…as much as we’re allowed, we will do it. And then come the first day we’re allowed to practice, we’ll hit the [ground] running with fundamentals, just get after it and get these kids better,” Watkins said. 

When he served as a JV coach for Springwood football, the PeeWee team, a feeder program for JV, was cut. Watkins said he had not coached kids that young since his own son was playing PeeWee. But, when Burch asked Watkins about heading the group this time, he knew the importance of the younger kids in the program’s future success.

“I love coaching kids, and I love the fundamentals of the game,” he said. “At that age, you can teach the kids the fundamentals of the game, and then once their talent catches up with their fundamentals, then they can take off.”

Watkins is a believer in the power of sports. Both in the real world and the world of sports, getting knocked down is commonplace. The coach said sports teaches young people how to get back up. 

“If one guy messes up, then the play doesn’t work, So it teaches you to work together. It teaches you to be a team player…at the same time, it’s an individual thing, because, if I don’t do my job, then it’s not gonna work.” 

As someone at home on a field, Watkins hopes to continue his umpiring and refereeing when possible.

“I love being around it. I love football, love baseball,” Watkins said. “I love being on the field…it’s kind of a way to get back to your community too, that gave so much to you.”

While the sports and atmosphere are a big part of his life, the mentorship seems to be the biggest draw for Watkins. 

“It’s about the kids. I don’t know how many games we’re going to win…but if I can be an influence on those kids and kind of steer them in the right direction, both in their personal lives and with their families, academically and athletically, then that’s what it’s about,” he said.