It didn’t take long for Winona Christian to find its next head baseball coach.
The Winona Christian school board hired former Kosciusko head coach Derrik Boland, who will replace Shannon Self.
Self was the Winona Christian baseball coach for eight years and won the school’s only baseball state championship in 2017. Self said he told athletics director Junior Graham after the season that he would like to step down from baseball but wanted to give the school plenty of time to find a replacement. Self will stay on at the school as the defensive coordinator for the football team and head junior high football coach as well as teaching his usual class load.
Self said it was “just time” to step down.
“It was just the right time,” Self said. “I wanted to go out on my own terms and never wanted to be fired. I just wanted to step back a little. I’m thankful for the school board and administration for allowing me to go out on my terms. I’m really thankful for all of the players and parents who made the last eight years great and allowed us to accomplish something that has never been done at this school.”
The Stars hired Derrick Boland, who led Kosciusko to the second round of the Class 4A playoffs this past season.
Boland has both high school and college experience. Boland, a Nettleton graduate, played at Milsaps where he also started his coaching career. He was the coach at St. Aloysius and the head coach at Shades Mountain in Birmingham, Ala., before being an assistant at Huntington College. He spent the last two years at Kosciusko.
“I’m excited about the opportunity,” Boland said. “I think they have a really good thing going up there and I’m excited about the opportunity. I really like the family atmosphere and the way the coaches work with each other. It seems like everything they do is about the kids. Just seeing their passion for the kids and the school, you can tell their hearts is for the kids. I’m really excited to be a part of that.”
