After 21 years of honorably serving his country in the U.S. Army, Ronnie Matthews was ready for a change.

He thought long and hard about it. Prayed about it.

“I didn’t have a clue what I was going to do, but I knew the Lord would lead me in the right direction,” says Ronnie, a 1990 White House High School graduate who retired as a Major and whose time in the military included a 367-day deployment to Iraq and Kuwait.

What would that direction be? One word kept tugging at his head and heart: baseball.

After all, Ronnie had a stellar career at White House, went on to play at Bethel College in McKenzie, Tenn., and briefly tried his hand at minor league baseball. He’s been a constant presence as a White House Parks and Recreation baseball coach for more than 30 years as well.

The game had been part of his family dynamic all the way back to Little League, when he was coached by his father, the late Ronnie Matthews Sr. Maybe, just maybe, an opportunity could come along to where Ronnie Jr. could pass along the love and knowledge of baseball he gained from his father and other role models such as Jeff Bennett and Jeff Porter at White House and Bethel Head Coach Glenn Hayes.

It took all of one week after Ronnie’s retirement from the Army in June 2023 for that opportunity to present itself. Springfield High School was seeking a head baseball coach.

“I wore Springfield’s principal, Dr. Chris Tucker, out sending texts and emails about my interest in the job,” Ronnie chuckles. “I’m a true believer that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, so I continuously contacted him asking when I could get an interview.”

Ronnie’s persistence paid off.

“At the end of June, Dr. Tucker called me and said, “Hey, I just wanted to see if you were still interested in being the head baseball coach at Springfield High School,’” recalls Ronnie. “I said I very much was, and he told me, ‘‘Well, that's great because I've recommended you as our next hire for the team.’  I literally wept right then and there. It was like, ‘Wow, look what I'm getting to do now!’”

From that moment on, Ronnie has poured his heart and soul into every facet of Springfield High baseball, not to mention becoming a valuable part of the school’s faculty. His teaching load includes World History, Advanced World History, Geography, Civics, Contemporary Issues, and Psychology.

“The great thing about that is I have variety; the bad thing about that is I have variety!” he laughs. “I have to create lesson plans for every subject. But the silver lining is I also get to coach baseball. When I’m talking to my fiancé [Jamie Adams, a teacher at Station Camp Middle School] or my family, I’ll stop mid-sentence and say, ‘I’m the head baseball coach at Springfield High School!’ I have to pinch myself sometimes.”

An impressive 52 players tried out for Ronnie first Yellow Jackets squad in July, 29 of whom were selected to make up the final roster. Seniors Garrett McMahon and Alan Dickerson were voted as team captains. The school’s head boys basketball coach, Anthony Griggs, serves as assistant baseball coach.

With the players and staff in place, Ronnie immediately began stressing the concept of “team” and building camaraderie. He even coined a slogan that’s now permanently displayed in their dugout: “We Over Me.”

“We win as a team, lose as a team, suffer as a team, and rejoice as a team,” Ronnie stresses. “Everybody has a role on the team. Know what that role is and do it to the best of your ability.”

A few other keys to coaching, which Ronnie says he learned from his father, are being honest, transparent, and not being afraid to show love.

“Always tell them the truth, because they trust you enough to ask questions like, ‘What do I need to do to get better?’” he says. “And you can get on to them, discipline them, but show compassion, too. If you don’t love on them, then they don’t respond as well to the corrective actions.”

This new era of Springfield High School baseball began with a loss to Greenbrier on March 12, followed by a win two days later against Portland. While understandably declaring that creating a consistently winning program is the ultimate goal, Ronnie hopes Yellow Jacket fans see what these young student-athletes bring to the table beyond the results on the scoreboard.

“I want the community to see that we’ve got a bunch of good athletes out there working hard, not only on the field but in the classroom,” he explains. “Our team GPA right now is around 3.2, and that's 29 guys. That's incredible and pretty rare today. I brag on them all the time.”

The energy and enthusiasm in Ronnie’s voice is infectious. He knows this is where God intended him to be.

“I don't say I'm going to work; I say I’m heading to school. I told my fiancé the other day, ‘It's a beautiful thing when passion and career come together.’ It's so true.”

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