Barber returns to alma mater to join Strickland's first staff

May 23—MOULTRIE — Taylor Barber was an assistant coach on the last two Tift County baseball teams that made back-to-back elite eight appearances for the first time in 40 years and won a region title for the first time in 10 years.

But he has decided to cast his lot with new Colquitt County head baseball coach Ryan Strickland and return to his high school alma mater to join the Packers staff.

Barber and Chance Carter will be new additions to the Colquitt County baseball program under Strickland, the former Thomas County Central head coach who was hired this week.

Carter, a Crawfordville, Fla., native who played and coached at Thomas University, worked for Strickland and the Yellow Jackets.

Like Strickland, Barber also is a former Colquitt County assistant coach.

But Barber's ties run deeper.

He was a pitcher on the 2011 Colquitt County baseball team that reached the state semifinals against Parkview.

After graduating from Georgia Southern, he returned to Moultrie in 2016 and worked as an assistant coach with Colquitt County's baseball and softball programs.

In 2019, he went to Tift County as head girls softball coach and an assistant baseball coach and he has been there since.

But he and wife Elizabeth Ann, a former Moss Farms and University of Georgia diver, have continued to live in Moultrie and recently welcomed their second child.

Barber said he is glad to be back among the black-and-gold.

And his former baseball coach is glad he has returned as well.

"He's like my baby," said Tony Kirkland, who was Colquitt County's coach when Barber was a Packer player and now operates Moultrie's Fundamental Factory. "He and I are very close.

"He's extremely loyal and top-notch at what he does. It's good to get him back."

Barber will soon be coaching again on the field where he nearly lost his life on October 14, 2018, when he suffered a massive heart attack while mowing grass.

The heart attack was caused by a dissection in the left anterior descending artery, causing a blood clot in the area known as "the widow maker."

He was seemingly healthy and had had no previous heart problems.

Only quick work by first responders and three stents in his heart saved his life.

Four months later he was back on the field and in the dugout preparing for the Packers 2019 baseball season.

After the end of that season, he was contacted by Tift County baseball coach Kyle Kirk offering him the Blue Devils pitching coach job.

He soon got a call from Tift County Athletic Director Rusty Smith offering him the Lady Devils softball head coaching position as well.

Barber accepted, but it was a difficult decision to leave his home town and Kirkland.

He had worked with the Packers pitching staff and helped develop Beau Dalton, Austin Craven, Buck Blalock, Cory Newsome, Dylan Collins, Gavin Patel and Ethan Patel.

But he was ready to step up.

He was the Blue Devils pitching coach for two years under Kirk and then worked with the hitters and the outfielders the last two seasons under Greg Williams.

He also used what he learned as an assistant to Chance Pitts when he took over the Tift County softball program.

The Lady Devils had won a total of 19 games over the previous three seasons and had been 2-22 in region games.

The 61-84 record he compiled over five season was a remarkable improvement. And in 2022, the Lady Devils reached the Class 6A Super Regional final.

Three members of the 2023 Lady Devils senior class have signed to play collegiately next season, including Bailee Williams, who is going to Alabama State.

"The kids just bought in," Barber said of the improvements made in Tift's softball program.

And he is proud of the success of the Blue Devils baseball team the last two seasons.

And not just on the diamond.

"Our goal was also to see them become productive members of society," Barber said.

That is a stated goal of Strickland's as well.