Coaching turnover in the athletics department at Savannah Country Day School continued last week with the resignation of Nate Ward as head baseball coach. Ward, 30, confirmed his decision to step down from roles as an SCDS Physical Education teacher and baseball coach with Connect Savannah on Friday, July 26. He said he informed SCDS Head of School Kef Wilson and new Athletics Director James Franklin of his choice on Monday, July 22. Ward guided the Hornets to five straight playoff appearances in his five seasons at the helm.

A graduate of Armstrong State University, Ward said he was taking an operations job at a Savannah concrete company that allowed him to “better provide for his family.” He said it wasn’t an easy choice, but it was a sensible one.

“I’m going to go work for a concrete company out of Savannah and I’ll be running some of their operations over there,” he explained. “It’s giving me a couple of things. One is that yes, it is giving me more money so that I can better provide for my family, and also a little bit more time with my family. So those are the two big things that kind of made that decision for me.”

“The company, what they thought of me, I think it led to a very quick decision as far as on my end, talking it over with my wife over the weekend and then going into Monday [July 22] and talking to the school to let them know kind of where I was. I went to the Head of School [Kef Wilson] and Athletics Director [James Franklin] first and told them where I was, and there were some talks or some conversations but, at the end of the day, it just kind of fell into the spot where I am now. After that, it was just contacting the parents and the kids and letting them know kind of where I was at and the situation at hand.”

Ward took over the program at Country Day after serving as the assistant coach under Dan Garofano. From the time it started in 1990, the program had not made the state baseball playoffs until Garofano’s first team did so in 2008. He led them there again in 2018 and 2019. Then, Ward picked up right where Garofano left off. His teams were a two-seed in the state playoffs in three of his five seasons and SCDS hasn’t missed the playoffs since 2017. The program also got big monetary donations to support facility upgrades. Ward estimated $1.8 million had been put into the program over his tenure, citing The Battery Indoor Hitting Facility and T. Brown Baseball Field remodel that was unveiled for the 2024 season.

“I’m extremely proud of it. You know, I’m from Richmond Hill. I graduated from Richmond Hill High School in 2012. And I know the history of the Country Day baseball program wasn’t one with a ton of success, but that’s just that’s not the case anymore,” said Ward. “There were coaches that used to schedule Country Day and they would make a checkmark for a win next to it before the season even started. And that’s just not the case now. We’ve done very well. I’m extremely proud of it. There was the running joke among a lot of people back then, you know, that if you can get this team or this school over [a] .500 [winning percentage], then you’ve done something special. Well, we knocked that out of the park. It is pretty astounding to think about where we came from to where it’s at now.”

While it’s still unclear who will replace Ward, what is evident is that the athletics program at Country Day in 2024-25 will look dramatically different than it did last year, especially so in the coaching and leadership department.

Franklin replaced Kenny Conroy as the Athletics Director on July 1, but Conroy elected to stay on as the girls basketball coach. Still, the proverbial “big three” sports programs at SCDS each will have new head coaches in 2024-25: Football (John Mohring in 2023-24, Roc Batten in 2024-25); Boys Basketball (Mac Tamminen, Sean Sweeney); and Baseball.

Ward believes the baseball team, and the SCDS athletics program as a whole, are in good hands.

“There has always been good support there from everybody and really a lot of understanding from the school in my situation. They understood exactly where I was coming from, and [Franklin], he’s going to do really well over there. He and I had a very good conversation, and it was nothing but love and support from him and [Wilson]. I really appreciate the fact that we had those relationships, so no bad blood and hopefully no bridges burned; definitely none on my end. Hopefully the school feels the same way. I think that they do.”

SCCPSS FOOTBALL MEDIA DAY HIGHLIGHTS

The annual Savannah Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS) Football Media Day was held on Saturday morning, July 27, at Beach High School. Each of the eight Savannah public schools were represented by coaches and select players on the stage to preview their 2024 Georgia High School Association (GHSA) seasons, which begin over the weekend of August 15-17.
Among the themes discussed, by multiple coaches and players, was the new-look region alignments following the most recent GHSA reclassification cycle. The most notable outcome of the shakeup was the consolidation of six SCCPSS programs into Region 3-3A (Class 3A, Region 3). Only New Hampstead (3-4A) and Savannah High School (3-1A Division II) will play outside of the 10-team Region 3-3A. Jenkins, which made an improbable run to the Class 5A quarterfinals last year under head coach Tony Welch, dropped down two classifications (based on enrollment numbers) to join Region 3-3A, which also includes newcomers Islands (from 3-4A) and Windsor Forest (3-2A). Calvary Day, a private school with high expectations every season, is also included in the region.
Generally, Savannah public schools are thought to be better served by having as little travel required as possible. Still, a contrast in roster sizes will be evident within region 3-3A this season. While the school enrollment numbers might look similar, Jenkins has approximately 118 players in its program this season (freshman, junior varsity, and varsity) and Windsor Forest has fewer than 50. Every Savannah team’s 2024 GHSA football schedule can be found here.

This article appears in Connect Savannah I July 2024.