From the head coach to the players, the Noxapater Tigers will certainly be young next year.
Noxapater recently hired Zach Kemp as the school’s next head baseball coach. Kemp is a 2012 graduate of Noxapater. He went to East Central for two years and then got his bachelor’s degree from Mississippi State.
After graduating from Mississippi State, Kemp spent a year in the heating and cooling business. But when the Noxapater job came open, Kemp jumped at the chance to get into coaching.
“From a really young age, I have wanted to do something in sports,” Kemp said. “I have always looked at coaching as a way of staying around the program and staying young. I played baseball from the age of 5 until I graduated and baseball has just always stuck with me.”
Kemp understands he will have his hands full this season with a young Noxapater team.
“We are stilly pretty young and they had to go through some troubles last year,” Kemp said. “I’m excited about the development that can take place because of how young they are. It will be a lot of work. They could be good in a couple of years because of how young they are. There is some young talent but in a few years we should be able to compete with teams.”
Kemp also understands the Tigers have their hands full inside their division with defending 1A champion and rival Nanih Waiya.
“It’s a tough division, that’s for sure,” Kemp said. “Everybody know how good Nanih Waiya is and Ethel has been really good the last couple of years. And French Camp is really solid. And because we are so young, these young kids have got to get a lot of reps and get used to the speed of the game.”
Kemp did get to spend the month of June with the Tigers in summer baseball.
“We played eight games and didn’t win any but competed well,” Kemp said. “There was a big difference from the team from game one of the summer to game eight. I thought they got a lot better in just a month’s time. They started to realize that they could play with people.”
Kemp said he will be assisted by Wylie Rhodes. Kemp will also be an assistant football coach with the Tigers, coaching wide receivers and defensive backs.
