Former Blackman baseball coach Justin Entrekin lands on Siegel staff

It didn't take long for Justin Entrekin to get back into the coaching ranks.

The former Blackman baseball coach has joined coach Craig Reavis' staff at Siegel.

Entrekin resigned from Blackman after the 2017 season in which he led the Blaze to the state tournament and finished in the top six in Class AAA.

"This is the place I'm supposed to be right now," Entrekin said. "The kids have been really receptive, and Coach Reavis and I have been competing against each other for a while and have formed a good friendship."

Entrekin will be listed as the team's pitching coach. Reavis was excited to add someone with Entrekin's resume to the Stars.

"It's not every day you get to add a coach who won the district and region and finished in top six in the state," Reavis said.

"He'll be a big asset working with our pitchers. During games he will be down with the pitchers, warming them up and staying on top of them. He will also work with our pitchers between starts. In the past they've had to work mostly on their own."

Siegel won the Class AAA state baseball title in 2016. The Stars finished fourth in 7-AAA last season and did not advance past the league tournament.

Entrekin's Blaze finished 29-12 last season. He coached the team from 2013-17, winning more than 100 games.

"It's great having a coach who competed against us last season, giving us an idea on what they did to attack us and beat us," Reavis said. "That will help me a lot. We already had a great staff here, and it's gotten better."

Blackman, Oakland represented in first poll: Blackman and Oakland were both highly regarded in the first Associated Press high school football poll, released Monday afternoon.

The Blaze, who received one first-place vote, are ranked No. 2 in Class 6A while Oakland is right behind them at No. 3.

Maryville is ranked No. 1, receiving nine of the 11 first-place votes. Oakland defeated Maryville in last year's state semifinals before falling to Whitehaven in the BlueCross Bowl.

Whitehaven, which garnered the other first-place vote, entered the poll ranked No. 7. 

Bradley Central, Cane Ridge and Science Hill were Nos. 4-6, respectively. Farragut (8), Brentwood (9) and Ooltewah (10) round out the poll.

Blackman routed Hendersonville 63-28 to kick off the season Friday while Oakland ripped past defending 5A state runner-up Independence 38-6. Independence received 15 votes in the poll, which would have been good enough for 12th.

Reach Cecil Joyce at cjoyce@dnj.com or 615-278-5168 and on Twitter @Cecil_Joyce.