Essary takes over Greenfield program

Greenfield baseball will go through a transition this offseason as Willie Trevathan has resigned as head coach. Assistant coach Corry Essary will take the reins of the Yellowjackets’ program.

“Willie and I are the same age and have been friends since we were probably 12 years old,” Essary said Saturday during a phone conversation about his new job. “I’ve enjoyed the past year working with him and helping out in the fall while he dealt with basketball.

“He had his way of doing things, and I had my way I’d developed while I coached at Gibson County. And we kind of meshed those some this year, and I think it went really well.”

Essary knows there will be some expectations as he takes over at his alma mater. The program has appeared in three sectional games in the past eight years before falling a game short of the state tournament and won a few district and region championships along the way.

He also said he knows living up to those expectations could be a tall task next season after the program graduates six seniors this year.

“We’ve got three coming back, and two of them will be around a few years,” Essary said. “We know going in we’ve got some development to do, but we’ll get there.”

Trevathan will continue to serve as athletic director and girls’ basketball coach.

It will be Essary’s return to head coaching since resigning two years ago after being diagnosed with leukemia.

“Health-wise I feel great,” Essary said. “I saw my doctor a few days ago and I’m doing good.

“I feel good and enjoying life. My wife commented about halfway through the season this year that I’m smiling a lot more now, and that’s obviously a good thing.”

Trevathan said he felt him stepping down was best for the school on all fronts.

“This way I’m able to focus more on one team, because it wasn’t really fair to the girls’ basketball players or the baseball players that my focus throughout the year was divided,” Trevathan said. “But also, this will be good for my family because I won’t have back-to-back sports seasons where I’ll spend a lot of time away from home each day.

“And if I were going to give up the baseball program, Corry is the one I’d want to turn it over to because I know he’s a man of high morals and character. He’s the one I want running our school’s baseball program.”

Trevathan said he appreciated the opportunity to coach a number of high-quality kids in the seven years he was the head baseball coach.

Brandon Shields, 425-9751