The last time a Covington High School baseball assistant was promoted to head coach, the Chargers won a state title in his first season running the club.
That man, of course, was Brad Warmath, who led the Chargers to the 2019 Class AA state title while battling a serious illness. His name is now on the water tower that looks down on the Covington square.
Whether that will happen again remains to be seen, but the Covington administration are taking a similar strategy to replace Warmath, who stepped down over the summer.
His replacement? Bradyn McClain, who was named head coach last Thursday. McClain’s first year as a Covington assistant was 2019 and now he takes over the program.
McClain, a 27-year-old 2014 Covington graduate, has played and been an assistant coach at the state tournament. Now he’ll be tasked with leading them back.
McClain worked in finance for a while after college graduation, but ultimately decided he wanted to get back into baseball.
“I wasn’t real talented physically as a baseball player, but I thought I always had a high baseball IQ and I could see the game,” said McClain. His first coaching job at any level was 2019 and learned from very experienced coaches like Warmath, Chris Messer and Chris Godwin.
“Those guys really took me under their wing and I can’t thank them enough.”
Covington lost some very talented players to graduation last spring, but that’s not something McClain is worried about right now. He believes hard work and dedication to the game is the path to success.
“I’m a big believer in putting the work in,” McClain said. “You work your tail off and you get what you put in. That’s the way I was raised. If you put the work in the game will pay you back.”
