Greenwood softball hires Paris coach Donald Hart to continue Lady Bulldogs' success
Newly hired Greenwood softball coach Donald Hart leaves family and friends behind after a five-year run at Paris but feels "ecstatic" to lead a program looking to build on recent tradition.
The announcement of Hart's hiring was made by Greenwood Schools on Tuesday. Hart replaces Ronnie Sockey, who resigned in May to become boys basketball coach at Poteau.
“Coach Sockey has really laid the groundwork and really built an incredible program and our kids and our community deserve somebody who is adamant about softball, really loves the game and has proven successful, and Coach Hart has met all of those things," Greenwood athletic director Dr. Dustin Smith said. "He’s an incredible person. He’s a great coach and an even better person.”
As Paris’ coach, Hart guided a program that went 6-16 the season prior to his arrival to a 92-45 mark during the next five. The immediate success included a 27-10 record, a 3A-1 regional title and an Arkansas Class 3A state tournament first-round win.
The Lady Eagles reached the 3A state semifinals in 2019 and 2021, with a 3-1 run during 2020’s COVID-19 abbreviated season. In 2022, Paris went 11-14 and missed the state tournament.
"My in-laws live over there (in Paris) and my wife graduated from there," Hart said. "We live in Magazine. I went to Magazine High School. And then my girls started out at Booneville. I was a registered volunteer there the year before I got the Paris job, so then we moved to Paris ... but made a ton of friends."
A former Arkansas Tech pitcher, Hart was a member of the Wonder Boys conference rotation as a junior and senior. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in business, Hart spent 19 years in the business sector of manufacturing supervision. The last 15 years were with Kraft Foods/Planters, working in inventory for the last seven.
“Of course, you can’t tell a teenaged kid anything,” Hart said. “And all I heard when I was a kid was that you can’t make any money teaching. I was going to be the next major leaguer and I had some scouts following me around, thought I was going to get drafted and things just didn’t work out.
“So I went into business because I had worked in the summers and I watched the bosses walk around in khakis and thought, ‘That’s what I want to do,’ so I went into business, but after playing and getting into coaching some Little League, I found out that I had a burning desire to be a coach.”
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Hart said he had tried to get into high school coaching years before but didn’t feel that he could afford it at the time. Coaching Rapid Impact travel softball and his feeling about the company’s direction after Heinz bought Kraft sparked the itch to “go for it” when the Paris job opened.
Hart completed a two-year APPEL program to earn a teaching license.
Sockey took over the Greenwood program in 2013 after the team had gone sub-.500 with volunteer coaches the year before. Under his guidance, the Lady Bulldogs won their first fast-pitch state championship in 2015 and were runner-up in 2017 and 2021.
According to Smith, Sockey told the team during the 2022 season about his intention to leave. Out of respect for the coach, Smith said he waited until after the season and team banquet before beginning the hiring process and interviews with candidates.
Smith said that he had asked Greenwood players what they were looking for in a coach and valued their consultation.
You can follow Bryant Roche on Twitter @BRocheSports and you can email him at BRoche@gannett.com