Chris Doan is resigning as Walker Valley High School softball coach at the end of this season.
Doan said he’s thought about the move since last spring when his wife, Shannon, was pregnant with their now 8-month-old son, Cayman. They have a 4-year-old daughter, McKenzie.
“We have two children now and my little girl is at an age where she’s starting to do things,” Doan said. “It’s not fair to my wife to work all day and then be the only parent this time of year. I don’t want to look back some day and feel like I spent a bunch of time helping raise other people’s kids and miss out on my own.”
Doan guided Walker Valley to a second-place finish in the Class AA state tournament in 2005. The Lady Mustangs are 8-4-1 this season and are fresh off winning the Brentwood High Invitational over the weekend.
Doan’s one season as Norma Nelson’s assistant coach at Ooltewah was in 1997, when the Lady Owls were Class AAA state runners-up. He said it was through Nelson’s recommendation that he was hired the next school year to coach softball at Ocoee Middle.
Walker Valley opened the year after that, and Doan has been the school’s only head softball coach. Coincidentally, Ooltewah is the team the Lady Mustangs beat in the final of the Brentwood tournament and is their opponent today in a key District 5-AAA game at Ooltewah at 5 p.m.
“He’s one of the best men I know,” Nelson said. “He’s a great Christian man; he’s great with kids and does a great job coaching. When he was with me, he was young and energetic and wanted to learn everything. He was a great role model for the kids and would do anything you asked him to do. Chris is very competitive. He’s taken softball in the Bradley County area and brought the standards up.”
Doan teaches physical education at North Lee Elementary School. He said he plans to remain Ocoee’s softball coach, unless at some point he decides to accept an offer to move into administration. He also plans to remain a big supporter of Walker Valley’s softball team.
“I told my girls I’m still going to be there for them,” Doan said. “They’ve been my family for so many years.”
The Lady Mustangs went 6-0-1 in the Brentwood tournament with freshman pitcher Sidney Hooper going 5-0. She allowed nine hits and no earned runs with 23 strikeouts in 22 1/3 innings.
Kayla Sewell and Laurel Allen each was 10-for-15, Allen with four RBIs and Sewell with seven, including a grand slam in a 5-4 win over Brentwood. Courtney Cobble had six hits, seven stolen bases and 10 runs scored, and Allie Morrow and Hooper each drove in five.