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Freedom baseball coach resigns

Search is underway for replacement

By Matt Collins | The News Herald

Published: July 4, 2009

Morganton — Freedom High baseball coach Jon Stafford has resigned, Freedom athletic director Joe Davis said on Friday.
Stafford, who coached for three years at Freedom (two years as a head coach, one as an assistant), had an overall record over three years of 16-53 (excluding Easter and conference tournaments) and an overall conference record of 4-32. The Patriots didn't win a Northwestern 4A Conference game in the last two years.
When asked why he was leaving, Stafford said, "I'd like to spend more time with my family. My son is going to be in ninth grade and I'd like to see him play."
He thinks the Patriots did the best they could during his tenure there. "With what we had, we did as good as we could," he said. "The biggest downfall we had was that we didn't have people that could throw 90 miles per hour."
He did say, however, that "there is a bright future there. They'll win more games next year, and more the year after."
So what now for the program? "The position will be posted and we'll start taking applications," Davis said. "Hopefully we'll know soon."
When asked what kind of coach would fit the Freedom program, Davis said, "the kind of person who'd probably be interested in starting out (as a head coach), but we won't narrow it down to just that."
Stafford reminisced about the last two seasons. "The first year, I was more quiet than usual, and last year, I was more myself and we went from one win to seven.
"I appreciate Freedom for giving me the opportunity to coach this fine group of kids."