Lynn Doles named Milan softball coach

On Thursday, the Milan administration named Lynn Doles as the new softball coach for the 2024-25 school year.

“Milan High School is excited to name Lynn Doles as our new softball coach,” Milan principal Jennifer Yates said via press release. “Lynn brings a tradition of excellence to our program. His win-loss record and postseason accomplishments speak to the caliber of coach he is. We look forward to the future of Lady Bulldog softball under Coach Dole’s leadership.”

Doles replaces Taylor Schubert, who resigned at the end of the season.

“I have been coaching for a while, and I have played against Milan,” Doles said. “I have been monitoring and watching their program for a while, and it is a good program. It was a program that I knew I could come into and continue what they have done in the past, continue to have success building toward more success.”

Last season, Doles was the head softball coach at Paris Inman. But he has also been a head coach at Ripley and Haywood, and he was an assistant coach for two years under Rory Hinson at South Gibson when the Lady Hornets went to the Class AA state tournament in 2015.

“We moved to McKenzie this past year because my daughter is in the Renaissance program at Bethel University, and that way we could see more of her concerts and performances,” Doles said.

South Gibson beat Ripley in the Class AA sectionals in 2015, and he was named the Ripley head coach for the following season.

“We played Ripley in the sectional, and we beat them,” Doles said. “My job at South Gibson was to call all the pitches, and when we were done and walking across the field, the coach said ‘This is it for me, I am done. You did a great job calling the pitches, and I think they would be interested in talking to you. Time had gone past, and then their principal called and wanted me to come talk to them.”

He coached at Ripley from 2016-18, leading the Lady Tigers to three straight sectional appearances with a 68-44 record.

Doles left Ripley in 2019 for Haywood to become an assistant principal, but he coached a Lady Tomcat team that season to 15 wins after only winning three games the previous three seasons. He returned to Ripley after the one season at Haywood.

Coming in, Doles is ready to be a year-round softball coach, not one that only coaches in the spring.

“The best thing about softball is that it is a spring sport, so I have a little more time to get things together,” Doles said. “I am talking to (Milan athletic director Shane) DePriest to work through everyone’s schedule to hold tryouts as soon as possible. And then when we come back from the dead period, we are going to work. I think it is important to building a program by setting every little part of that program up, from summer workouts to offseason conditioning, because you don’t have a lot of time with how TSSAA is set up to coach, coach, coach, so that when you do get to practice, you are ready to institute some game play things and fine tune things.”

Milan is coming off a 6-18 season, finishing third in District 14-2A but losing twice in the district tournament to finish fifth.