RINGGOLD, Ga. – Sometimes it just works out. Shane Pendley had an itch to scratch, and Ringgold High School had the perfect solution.
Pendley, three years removed from coaching, was named the head softball coach at the perennial northwest Georgia power this week, replacing one of his former student-athletes. Rachel Hodge resigned her coaching duties last month to concentrate on her family.
“It’s kind of odd to be taking over from one of my ex-players,” said Pendley, who last coached softball at Notre Dame and who also had a stint at Ringgold. “She’s done a great job with that program and I’m excited to get started. Like Rachel, I took a step back from coaching a few years ago for my family, and I recently found out I couldn’t get rid of that itch to coach again.”
Ringgold had back-to-back 32-8 seasons the past two years and finished second in the state in 2012. Hodge took the Lady Tigers to the Elite Eight in Columbus in four of her five seasons, a run of success the school hopes to maintain.
“As soon as we interviewed him, I was sold,” Ringgold athletic director Robert Akins said. “He will bring discipline and integrity with him, and everybody we talked to about Shane had good things to say about him. Coach Hodge left the program in good shape, and we feel it’s in good hands now as well.”