Steven Helms and Michael Cox have swapped coaching assignments at Winona. After 19 years coaching slow-pitch and fast-pitch softball, Helms is stepping down and will be an assistant baseball coach.
Cox is moving from baseball assistant to head coach for the softball teams.
“I was ready for a change,” Helms said. “I always said that when MyCala graduated I would move on.” His daughter MyCala, a standout in slow-pitch and fast-pitch, as well as basketball, graduated this year.
“It's time for someone younger to step in and take the reins,” he said. Helms said the biggest thing he will remember is that the Lady Tigers made the playoffs 19 consecutive years in slow-pitch and/or fast-pitch during his tenure.
Cox is excited about his new coaching responsibilities. “It's going to be a challenge. Coach Helms was a really good coach and he had some really good seniors.”
He inherits young teams with four seniors for slow-pitch and three for fast-pitch. “I have two seventh graders and a load of eighth and ninth graders.
“My main goal is to get them to play together as a team first and foremost. We're really going to focus on catching and throwing, the fundamentals. Hopefully we can build on that and get better every year.”
Cox will continue as girls soccer coach in the winter. “I'm going to be really busy,” he said.
He received an endorsement from his athletic director, Charlie Parkerson. “Michael Cox is an up and coming coach with a bright future. I'm looking forward to him doing great things with our softball programs,” he said.
A number of schools have dropped slow-pitch in recent years, including Kosciusko this year.
But Parkerson said Winona will continue to field a team as long as the sport is recognized by the Mississippi High School Activities Association.
