Rakes new Catholic coach: softball
KNOXVILLE — Lindsay Rakes has spent her softball coaching career working almost exclusively with pitchers as an assistant.
But she’s always wanted to guide her own program.
And now she’ll get that chance.
Rakes, who was an assistant coach on Powell High School’s 2018 Class AAA state championship team, was named head coach at Knoxville Catholic High School shortly after she, PHS head coach Jeff Inman and the rest of the Lady Panthers hoisted the state championship plaque in Murfreesboro.
“I met with Jason Surlas (KCHS athletic director) and I don’t know much about the school,” said Rakes, a 2008 Halls High School graduate — and a first-baseman, third-baseman and pitcher with the Lady Red Devils — who began her coaching career at her alma mater.
“I’m excited and I just can’t wait to get started. I’ll miss Jeff and all the people in Powell.”
“She’s a great young coach and we’re excited to have her join us here,” Surlas said.
Rakes replaces Sarah Bailey, who left the Lady Irish’s program to take the head coaching job at Alcoa. Bailey left a young and talented roster at Catholic.
While Rakes said she is eager and ready to step in, she also expressed thankfulness for the opportunity to work under Inman at Powell and for Bryan Gordon and Kevin Julian at Halls.
“Jeff always knew that I wanted to be a head coach,” Rakes said. “Now, I’ll not only get the opportunity to call pitches. I’ll get the chance to work on the fundamentals of the game and do some other things that I want to do.
“I now have all the tools that I need to be a head coach,” she added. “Jeff just texted me and told me that he would miss me. But he also told me that he was excited for me.
