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*KENT FARRIS
Head Baseball Coach
Veteran high school baseball coach and instructor Kent Farris has made the jump back to the college level. Northeast Mississippi Community College has chosen Farris to be its new head baseball coach, replacing Ray Scott who had held the position since 1991.
Farris leaves Columbus High School (CHS) where he spent the last two seasons as the head baseball coach. Under Farris, the Falcons recorded an 18-11 record, won the 2006 Division II-5A championship and hosted a first round playoff series for the first time in school history. His 2005 team went 14-16, which was a 12 win improvement over its 2004 total. During his tenure at CHS five players signed community/junior college scholarships and two players participated in the Crossroads Diamond Club State All-Star Game. He was named Columbus Commercial Dispatch Area Coach of the Year in 2006
Before taking over the Columbus program Farris was head baseball coach at Caledonia High School from 2002-2004. He worked as an assistant baseball coach at New Hope High School and head junior high baseball coach from 1996-2002, where he was also an assistant football coach and head soccer coach and ninth grade football coach. Farris’ most extensive head coaching experience came at Alcorn Central High School where he served as head baseball coach for both the junior high and high school from 1984 to 1995.
While at Central, Farris led the Golden Bears to a 265-162-7 record. His teams qualified for the 3A State Playoffs in 1984, 1986, 1988 and 1990. Alcorn Central won the 3A State championship in 1988; the 3A North Half in 1988 and 1990; and the division title in 1988. He was selected Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal Coach of the Year in 1988. Nineteen of his players from this era signed college scholarships and two signed professional contracts.
Farris was on the staff as an assistant baseball coach at the University of North Alabama (UNA) from 1983-84 and helped lead the Lions to the 1984 Gulf South Conference title for the first time in school history. That team also finished second in the NCAA Division II South Central Region and featured five players that signed professional contracts.
An active coach in American Legion Baseball during his career, Farris also began working as an associate scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates Professional Baseball Club in 1998.
Farris earned a Bachelor of Science degree from UNA in 1981 and a Master of Arts in secondary education from the same institution in 1983. He also completed teaching certification requirements in health from the Mississippi Department of Education in 1994 and in driver’s education from Mississippi State University in 2001.
Professionally, Farris is a member of the American Baseball Coaches Association, the Crossroads Diamond Club, the Baseball Coaches Association (national high school), the Mississippi Association of Coaches, the Mississippi Association of Professional Educators and is a founding member and board member of the Northeast Mississippi Coaches Association for Better Baseball (NEMCABB).
Farris’ other professional honors and awards include his being named a Crossroads Diamond Club All-Star Game coach in 1989, a MEMCABB All-Star coach in 1992 and 2002, and a Junior Sunbelt Classic coach in 1979-99 and in 2001.
Farris has one son, Keaton, 18.