Wewa's Adkins moving on to college coaching ranks

WEWAHITCHKA -  Coy Adkins has reached a point in his high school coaching career where there's not much else to accomplish.

The former Wewahitchka softball coach already has won a state championship as a head coach and an assistant, turned around a program taking them to the state final four in the process, succeeded a coaching legend and led his club to national prominence.

He will now try to repeat that on the collegiate level.

Adkins, 31, accepted a job as a volunteer assistant for the University of Florida's softball team, leaving Wewahitchka following its worse season in recent memory, a 9-15 campaign.

"What else am I going to do at the high school level?" Adkins asked. "After you win a state championship one time, after you win it the second time, you want to do it every year and it's just not going to happen."

He's going from one winning program to another. The Gators were ranked No. 1 nationally for most of the season eventually losing to the Washington Huskies in the championship series of the Women's College World Series.

As a volunteer assistant, Adkins is considered a coach but since the NCAA only lets schools pay three coaches and the Gators already have two assistants to coach Tim Walton, there wasn't room for Adkins on the payroll. Instead, Adkins will earn a salary by working camps, clinics and at the school baseball fields.

Adkins' wife Sonya, also a teacher at Wewahitchka, and their two young children, Anniston and Kenna, will move with him.

Adkins spent the last month in Gainesville working Florida's softball camps. He will join the Gators full time after he finishes coaching his summer club, Team North Florida.

"It's probably the best place that I could be starting," Adkins said. "With the staff they have in place, with coach Walton, (and assistants) Jenny Gladding and Jennifer Rocha. I've got to really know the whole staff during this past month and their work ethic is unbelievable. You see why they're successful. And they're going to keep being successful.

"It's a good chance for me to get my foot in the door."

Adkins was a high school head coach for four seasons, two at Chipley and two at Wewahitchka. In 2002 and 2003, he compiled a 47-14-1 record at Chipley, coaching them to the Final Four in 2003. Adkins became an assistant at Wewahitchka under Charles Fortner in 2003 and replaced the hall of fame coach in 2008, leading the Lady Gators to their second consecutive state title that season. In two years at Wewahitchka he was 36-17.

"I had a very committed group of kids at Wewa," Adkins said. "I couldn't have done it before they got done playing. I felt just the timing was perfect. I'm a guy that lives a lot on faith and trusts God with everything. I just felt that this is a door that the Lord opened for me and I definitely want to pursue it.

"The high school kids, I think they were happy for me. The crew that I started with there had graduated. I hadn't had the experience with the kids that are coming up as I did with the crew that graduated this year and the year before that. It was a real positive reaction."

Besides the opportunity to coach a high level of Division I softball, Adkins was drawn to the opportunity because it's all softball, all the time. He doesn't have to teach anymore.

"The thing that I like about the collegiate level is the pressure is always on you," Adkins said. "And you're responsible for everything in your program. In high school you have what you have. You coached your players' abilities. In college you try to find kids that fit your philosophy or style.

"I just basically made my mind up. I gave my self a time frame. This is an opportunity that came up that may not come up again. I have support of my wife and she said go for it."