Dove flies ‘home’ to lead Hawks
One night in the spring of 2022, he was working an assistant coach for the Oak Ridge Wildcats.
Suddenly, his son — Hardin Valley Academy fifth-grader Asher Dove — ran up to the dugout.
He had just hit a home run for the Hawks to eliminate Oak Ridge’s middle school team, and he was ready to celebrate.
“So I’m sitting there decked out in Oak Ridge gear in a district game, trying to be excited for him,” Dove recalled with a laugh. “I knew then that it was time, and I needed to try to get back to Hardin Valley.”
Dove since has done even better, having been named the Hawks’ newest head coach earlier this summer.
He replaces Aaron Simmons, who resigned after two years as head coach.
Dove worked under Simmons and previous coach David Dillon, as a chance meeting with Dillon at a regional tournament led him back to the school in the first place.
“Excited would be the right word. I’ve been around Hardin Valley since the school opened,” Dove said. “I was on staff with Dr. (Kirk) Renegar, who’s the principal now, from 2008 to 2013. Then just stepped away when my kids were younger.
“Always wanted an opportunity to run my own program, do my own thing. I love Coach Simmons and hate that he left, but he’s at a stage of life that it was best for him and his family to step away.“
Dove’s previous stint with HVA saw three straight district championships for the Hawks, then he got out of the sport from 2013 to 2016.
In early 2017, he returned to the travel ball circuit. But it wasn’t until he played golf with Oak Ridge head coach Travis Free, a longtime friend, that he rejoined the high school ranks in 2022.
Dove helped a 2023 Wildcat team, which featured a young Mikee Teasley, then returned to HVA just in time for the dismissal of former coach Tyler Roach.
Dillon filled the role, and Dove stayed on staff through Simmons’ time to earn his new title.
It is his first time as a head coach at the high school level, and it comes with plenty of fresh faces.
“We’re going to be young, and it’s a different time and vibe, so we’ll have to do some work,” Dove said. “We return one starter in Tristan Sparks. We’re replacing 23 seniors we’ve graduated in the last two years. Six Division I guys, just lost an enormous amount of talent. So we will have a lot of young guys.”
Given his work as an assistant, though, Dove is quite familiar with the roster — two names in particular.
His oldest son Reece will be a junior this coming season while Asher will suit up for the Hawks in the class of 2031.
Altogether, their presence brings the journey full circle in Dove’s return — and promotion — at HVA.
“It’s home,” he said. “Leaving Oak Ridge was a tough thing to do, but the journey has been a blessing. I’m humbled by it because it’s all fallen into place in God’s time. I didn’t plan on coaching again, then, bam, here it is.”
