Grace Christian's new baseball coach describes himself as old school.
“If anything, I have sort of an old school philosophy against the flow of modern baseball,” said Charlie Agnew. “I still like small ball. Where the situation dictates it, we will lay down a bunt to advance the runners rather than trying to hit a home run. I believe you can achieve a lot of success by playing solid core fundamentals.”
Agnew will be a volunteer coach of the Eagles, replacing Ralph Goss, who stepped down after coaching the team for 10 years. His last team finished 7-5.
Agnew has a heating and air conditioning and construction business. “That's what I do to make a living. Baseball is more of a passion.”
He has been coaching youth baseball for quarter of a century. “I'm more a baseball fan than anything else,” he said.
“We are thrilled to have a guy with the baseball knowledge he has,” said Josh Morgan, Grace Christian's headmaster. “I'm also thrilled to have someone who has as much passion as he has. He's passionate about baseball and he is thrilled to take a program that has been a good program and help the kids continue to perform at a high level.”
Agnew started coaching youth baseball in Fulton when he was 19. One of the players he coached is major leaguer Brian Dozier.
He has two sons on the Grace Christian team. Wes Agnew is a junior and Jameson Agnew a sophomore.
Morgan, who is also the boys basketball coach, will assist Agnew with baseball. “I appreciate his help,” Agnew said. “I'm familiar with teaching the game of baseball. What I'm not familiar with is the behind the scenes things.”
He mentioned scheduling and communicating with other schools, areas where Morgan will be especially helpful.
Because many of the baseball players also play basketball, Agnew said the team will not be able to begin practicing until after basketball ends in late February,
