Coaching may appear to be simple with the gift of a talented squad, but perhaps the real challenge comes during the years stigmatized as “rebuilding” seasons.

Cathedral High School softball coach Gary Blackwell said his team wasn’t short of talent, but there was a learning curve his young squad would have to overcome to reach the playoffs in the 2015 season.

Despite the odds, Cathedral finished with an 11-14 record to earn a South State berth. Cathedral went 2-2 in South State to appear in the MAIS playoffs in Cathedral’s first season in its new conference. Blackwell’s and the Green Wave’s perseverance earns him the title of The Natchez Democrat 2016 All-Metro Coach of the Year.

“We didn’t have any seniors, and we played a lot of seventh and eighth graders,” Blackwell said. “One of our juniors was hurt and had to have surgery (Marty Lewis). That put us much younger.”

Blackwell said this was one of the youngest squads he’s coached since returning to Cathedral eight years ago.

“We’ve always had one or two young ones that would step up, but this was the first time we’ve had this many,” Blackwell said. “Sometimes we had three eighth graders starting. They will be that much tougher and grow up a lot from being able to play when they were younger.”

Blackwell said his coaching philosophy hasn’t changed much in 18 years of coaching. His emphasis is on effort.

“My style of coaching is just to always hustle,” Blackwell said. “If you play with the attitude that no one will out-hustle you. You can come back in some bad times.”

Blackwell said the hustle-first attitude of his young team helped his players during a season in which the team abruptly changed leagues — from MHSAA to MAIS.

“They had (fight) in them, and they had a good attitude and no quit in them,” Blackwell said. “Our record wasn’t the greatest but no one would have thought we’d make it to South State and we got all the way to State.”

Blackwell remarked the Miss-Lou area was full of great softball coaches, and he thanked his assistants for the help they’ve supplied him since the beginning of this fast-pitch coaching career.

“The main reason I’ve been successful is because of the help I’ve had (from Mark Fortenbery and Tommy Milliken),” Blackwell said. “I would have never thought I would have this honor. There are a lot of teams that have great coaches.”