By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

Cory Williams is headed home, which means walking away from his head coaching position for the Vincent baseball team. Williams confirmed in the evening of June 22 that he is stepping down from his position as the head coach for Vincent to return to his high school alma mater, Childersburg, where he will replace his high school baseball coach, Chad Slaten, who has taken the head coaching position at Sylacauga High School.

“I love Vincent, I do,” Williams said on June 24. “There’s not many places that I would leave Vincent for, but having won a state championship there (Childersburg) as a player and having a chance to replace my coach, it’s an honor for me. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime deal.”

Williams spent four years at Vincent, the first three as an assistant and his most recent as the head coach. In his time at Vincent, the Yellow Jackets amassed a 59-58 record, won three area championships, and made the second round of the 2A playoffs once. In his one season as head coach the Yellow Jackets went 15-13 and missed the playoffs.

Williams has not been formally introduced as the Childersburg head coach, but expects to be soon. Childersburg is a 4A school that has developed into a state power under Slaten’s long reign, and the allure of continuing that success at home was too good to pass up for Williams.

“I’m going home to be with my family,” Williams said. “I’m going to coach with guys that coached me, and that’s very exciting.”

The Yellow Jackets missed the playoffs for the first time in the last four years in 2015, but only graduate three seniors in Kade Carroll, Austin Whitfield and Sam Lynn. They will return All-Shelby County Second Team catcher Jordan Smith, who batted .420 last season and drove in 31 runs.

There has been no word from the Vincent administration as to where they will turn to fill the job, or the timetable in which the job might be filled. As of 3 p.m. on June 24, athletic director John Hadder had not returned a call seeking comment.