'He's everything to us': Hendersonville baseball's Mark Cook coaches final home game

Hendersonville baseball coach Mark Cook has roamed the dugout hundreds of games.

But Friday, Cook coached Hendersonville one last time at home. He announced that his 18th season would be his final one coaching the Bearcats earlier this year.

Altogether, Cook has coached baseball for 34 years.

He commanded the Bearcats to an 11-1 win vs. Patton on Friday to close out the regular season.

His team shook hands with the Panthers (5-18, 1-11 Mountain Foothills 7) then walked back to home plate to give Cook a hug. Then as Hendersonville (12-9, 6-6) and Cook walked to deep right field for a team meeting in foul territory, senior Noah Pavao and freshman Aiden Burlett lagged behind and surprised Cook with a celebratory Gatorade bath.

“Man, it’s bittersweet with being the last game there,” Cook said. “But to get that win here, it’s great.”

Cook is also an assistant coach for Hendersonville’s football team, too. He said he will be part of the football coaching staff one more season before retiring this December.

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He said he’s known for a while that he wanted this baseball season to be his last. He informed the team earlier this season.

“This is my 34th year overall,” Cook said. “So I just waited until I was 60. I’ll be 60 in October, and I want to step down then. My wife, she’s a school teacher, and she retired last year.

“So we’re going to take care of some grandbabies.”

Cook let assistant coach Luke Dotson man the third-base coaching box the past few seasons to hopefully prepare him for taking over the program. Cook said the school hasn’t named his successor yet.

Cook has accumulated over 170 wins and took the team to NCHSAA regional finals twice during his 18 seasons.

He said he will miss being around the players.

“Just being around the kids,” Cook said. “They’re great. They are a good group to be around. Every year, it keeps you going, getting a new group and seeing them grow.”

He is also thankful principal Bobby Wilkins gave him a chance to coach football and baseball.

“Hendersonville is a different place,” Cook said. “It’s a lot on tradition. The kids, the staff, the administration, everyone from top to bottom buys into that tradition.”

Senior Skylar Albright said the six other seniors promised to make this season the best it could be after Cook told the team that this was his last one coaching baseball.

“We all knew this was our last year as seniors,” Albright said. “It was his last year. We knew we wanted to make it good for each other, for ourselves and for him.”

Senior Sam Elliot said the team loves Cook.

“He’s everything to us,” Elliot said. “He’s our rock. We love him so much. We couldn’t imagine him leading a different team.”

Cook hasn’t coached his final game. Hendersonville will make the playoffs, and Cook said he isn’t ready for the season to end.

“Like I told the guys, we’re all 0-0 now getting ready to go into the playoffs,” Cook said. “We’ll see who we get. Whether we’re here, whether we’re on the road, we don’t know, but everybody’s got the same record right now.”

This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: Hendersonville baseball coach Mark Cook stepping down after 18 seasons