Enterprise baseball coach Lee Hyde resigns, Whitton returns

The Enterprise High School baseball team will be led by a new head coach for the second consecutive year after head coach Lee Hyde resigned last week to accept an administrative position at Wicksburg High School.

Hyde was hired to replace former head coach JD Pruitt last season and led the Wildcat baseball team to a 15-19 record and spot in the Class 7A playoffs in his first year in 2019.

The former G.W. Long and Troy baseball star started his coaching career at Wicksburg from 2006 until 2018 when he came to Enterprise. Hyde is leaving his coaching career behind – at least for now – as he takes over as an assistant principal at Wicksburg High School.

“I’m kind of getting out of the coaching profession altogether,” Hyde said of his decision. “I’ve had my certification for administration for a while now.”

Hyde said he had been thinking of moving on to administration for some time and this move was perfect for his family.

“My wife is there, my kids are there and we live right down the road,” Hyde said. “It was a good family decision as much as anything else.

“I was (at Wicksburg) up until last year and it really is the only job I’ve ever had other than EHS. I met my wife there and she’s been there for 15 years. We have a lot of ties there.”

Hyde’s wife – Kristen – is a longtime second grade teacher at Wicksburg.

Hyde said that while he had to make a difficult decision to leave Enterprise, it was hard to do so because of the students and parents in the community.

“There’s just so many great people at Enterprise,” he emphasized. “I learned a lot from our administration here and they’ve been so good to me in taking a chance on me and have offered me so much support.

“This is a special place at EHS with a lot of great kids. The parents have been nothing but supportive and it’s just a really great place to coach. If coaching had been my future going forward this definitely would have been the place for that.”

EHS principal Brent Harrison expressed his thanks to Hyde for his time at Enterprise.

“We’re very thankful to have had Coach Hyde for the last year and a half,” Harrison said. “He’s done an outstanding job for us.

“He’s a tremendous person, which is why he was chosen to be an administrator at another school. He has the right qualities you look for in a person that you are going to make a head coach or an administrator. We wish him nothing but the best.”

Hyde said that his replacement will have plenty to work with at EHS.

“There is a really good group of athletes in the program all the way down to the eighth grade,” Hyde said. “This year – on the varsity level – they have a chance to make a run in the playoffs. There is some depth on the (pitching) mound and a really good nucleus of high-character and hard working players.”

Enterprise will look to its past for a new head coach as former EHS star and assistant coach Matt Whitton was tapped to replace Hyde.

“I think familiarity was the biggest thing for us,” Harrison said of the decision to recommend Whitton for the job. “He knows the program, knows the school and knows the players. He’s committed to being in Enterprise but the main thing was his familiarity with the program.

“The time change (for a new coach) is not optimal, so we wanted to make sure whoever we brought in knows the ins and outs of the program, the school and the kids.”

Whitton is an Enterprise native and was a star player in the EHS baseball program before playing at Enterprise State Community College and then later at Huntingdon College in Montgomery.

After his playing days ended, Whitton became an assistant at ESCC and then as head coach at the old Enterprise Junior High. Whitton served as an assistant coach under Pruitt at the varsity level for six years.

Whitton was hired to be the head coach at Charles Henderson seven games into the 2018-2019 season. Whitton helped guide Charles Henderson to an 11-20 record and spot in the playoffs despite the team starting out 0-9.

In 2019 season, Charles Henderson had a major bounce back going 26-6 and winning the Class 5A, Area 3 Championship and making it to the second round of the playoffs.

Whitton’s Charles Henderson squad met Enterprise twice in 2019 with Charles Henderson winning both matchups.

Whitton was recommended for hiring to the school board on Oct. 29 and was approved to take over the program.