From coaching pitches to coaching on the pitch, Grace Christian Academy’s Brad Myers has embraced all that 2020 has thrown his way.
Myers, a 27-year baseball coaching veteran in Williamson County, will be inducted into the Tennessee Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in January. He joins four others, including two-time national championship coach Tim Corbin of Vanderbilt, as the association’s 2020 hall of fame class.
“I’m just very humbled,” said Myers, who in addition to coaching baseball at GCA has taken the helm as the girls soccer head coach as well.
“I think it just shows how very fortunate I’ve been to have had some really good players to make it look like I know what I am doing,” he quipped.
Myers joins Corbin — who won 2014 and 2019 NCAA Division I national titles with the Commodores — and Lorreto’s Gary Lamm, Friendship Christian School’s John McNeal and Grace Christian Academy of Knoxville assistant Dwight Smith. The five will be inducted during a Jan. 16 ceremony as part of the TBCA annual convention at the Cool Springs Marriott in Franklin.
“They are just so high-quality guys first and foremost,” Myers said. “They are great coaches.”
Lamb, who retired earlier this year, coached 41 seasons, his final 26 at Loretto. He posted a 552-425 record. McNeal, who also coaches the FCS football team, has coached 36 seasons on the diamond and has a 745-291 record. Smith has been around the game for more than five decades and most recently served as an assistant at Knoxville Grace.
This past high school baseball season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Myers is coming off leading GCA to the Class A state semifinals, for the first time, in 2019. The Lions defeated Lamb’s Loretto club — the 2018 runners-up and 2017 champs — not once, but twice to advance to their first final four.
With the new school year came another challenge for the veteran coach when longtime friend, coaching partner and GCA athletic director Len McKnatt asked Myers to take over the vacant head coaching position on the soccer field.
Interestingly enough, out of high school Myers was recruited to play soccer and baseball. He chose soccer initially and played one season at Coastal Carolina in 1987 before transferring to Belmont to pursue baseball.
“Yeah, hardly anybody really knows that, but Len knows the whole story, and when the job came up here at GCA, he said I should take it as well,” Myers said.
The decision to coach girls' soccer also included added time with two of his three daughters — Mary Bradley and Marxie Myers — both of whom play for the GCA soccer team.
“Not many people get that kind of opportunity,” Myers said of coaching two of his kids. “I get to be around my girls more and coach. It’s kind of funny in terms of coaching. We do a lot of the same stuff in baseball.
“Running a team is like running a company. It’s all about relationships. And I’m so thankful for all the relationships with all my current and former players. That’s why you coach.”