New Brockton’s Striplin to pull double duty as baseball coach

Jeremy Wise
Media General News Service

Published: October 8, 2008

Current New Brockton Gamecocks head football coach Jim Bob Striplin now has a new duty at NBHS — leading the rising Gamecocks baseball program.

Striplin was recently given the new responsibility by the Coffee County Board of Education. He replaces Daniel Lamb, who resigned.

This will not be Striplin’s first foray into baseball coaching. He led the Wadley Bulldogs to four playoff berths in five years.

“It’s one of those things about being a small-school coach — you’ve got to be prepared to coach anything,” he said.

Striplin, originally from Hartford, home of the baseball power Geneva County Bulldogs, said he did not play much baseball in high school.

He said that hasn’t stopped him from having success as a baseball coach.

“I’ve got a knack for coaching baseball. I’ve had some pretty good teams,” Striplin said.

Striplin added he has a few basic coaching philosophies when it comes to playing baseball.

One is effort.

“The main thing is we’re gonna out-work everyone we play. We’ll work to get the maximum ability out of each player,” he said. “That gives us the best chance to win.”
Another element in his philosophy is defense.

“We’ll work on defense. That’s the main thing,” Striplin said. “Hitting comes around as the season comes.”

Striplin doesn’t know much about his team, but a few of the players also play football for him, including Hayden Smith and Seth Culverhouse.

Culverhouse, who is leading the Wiregrass in pass receptions, is a good defensive player in the outfield, while Smith was the leading hitter for the Gamecocks last year.

The 6-foot-3 offensive lineman is also a good defensive player at first base.
“We’ve got a good core group back,” he said.
In the last two years under Lamb, the Gamecocks made the playoffs.
Before the 2007 trip, the Gamecocks had not reached the playoffs since 1999.