Coaches Corner: JR Myers returns to Prattville High as the new baseball head coach

In this installment of "Coaches Corner" I caught up with newly appointed Prattville Baseball coach JR Myers to discuss his return to the Prattville community. After coaching at Class 7A program Florence for the last eight years, Myers was named the Lions baseball coach at the Autauga County Schools board action meeting Wednesday night.

Myers played four seasons at Prattville in high school under Roger Lambert where he hit .364 with six home runs and 50 RBI for his career. He was named first team All-Metro his senior season in 2006, while also lettering in football and basketball for one season.

"The job came open and originally I was on the fence about it," Myers said. "I took everything into perspective especially with returning back home and I took a chance and I'm extremely excited about this opportunity. It has not been all the way set in yet because I have yet to speak with the guys but I'm ready to get going.

"I know what Prattville was able to offer me as a student and I develop great relationships here. This school gave me the start to where I am now. For me to be able to give back to a program who gave so much to me is something I can't turn down."

After high school Myers would go on to play junior college at North Florida where he hit .310 and was named second team All-region his freshman year. The following year he increased his batting average to .370 and stole 16 bases earning his second All-region nomination.

He wrapped his collegiate career at Troy University where he finished with a career batting average of .331 on 60 games played. His 55 hits followed by 27 RBI and four homers gave him him a .512 career slugging percentage with the Trojans.

Having that college experience at the Division I and JUCO level, Myers spoke on how he plans to prepare his future team on reaching that next level of baseball and expectations for the program entering year one.

"The biggest thing is preparation. I don't want to prepare them for just baseball but for education and anything they see themselves pursuing down the line," Myers said. "It's a grind getting to that next level of college baseball. And if I don't prepare them for that I'm failing them as a coach. I look forward to building these relationships and teaching them to enjoy life."

"At the end of the day we want to compete for a state championship and if I can learn and get this group of guys dialed on that goal I expect us to have a great year in 2023. Florence was a 7A program so I'm familiar with the landscape and just want to get this team every opportunity to be successful."

Jerry Humphrey III is a sports writer for the Montgomery Advertiser who covers area high school sports, Auburn recruiting and Alabama State athletics. Follow him on Twitter @jerryhump3.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Coaches Corner: Troy alum JR Myers returns to Prattville as baseball coach