James Wood High School has named Adrian Pullen its new varsity baseball coach. Pullen, who is a 1990 James Wood High School graduate and member of the school’s P. Wendell Dick Athletic Hall of Fame, succeeds Brent Lockhart who stepped down in May.
Pullen, who was named The Winchester Star All-Area Baseball Player of the Year following his senior season in 1990, has served as an assistant coach for James Wood’s varsity baseball team and a coach with the junior varsity team since 2016. From 2004-2010, he also served as an assistant baseball coach for the Colonels. In addition to his coaching experience at James Wood, Pullen served as the bench coach for the Valley Baseball League’s Winchester Royals in 2005, was avolunteer coach with the Winchester Baseball League from 2008-2016 and is the founder and director of the Blue Ridge Baseball Association. Pullen has also coached Blue Ridge Baseball Associationteams since 2016.
Pullen says, “I’m very excited about the opportunity to lead James Wood’s baseball program after being involved as a high school student-athlete and 11 years as a coach. I believe through hard work, dedication to excellence and a healthy dose of James Wood Pride, we can have a baseball program in which we can all take great pride. I believe if we provide an environment of inclusion and instruction, show players the path to success and push everyone to be the best they can be for themselves and their teammates, players will respond and winning will take care of itself.”
James Wood High School Coordinator of Student Activities Craig Woshner says, “Coach Pullen has exhibited a great passion for baseball since he excelled as a player at James Wood. His experiences as a high school and college player combined with his coaching experiences will serve our student-athletes and baseball program well.”