x
Breaking News
More () »

Mills head coach overcomes tragedy to help players

An hour before senior night for Mills baseball, but there's still grass to cut, lines to paint, and a lineup card to turn it.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - An hour before senior night for Mills baseball, but there's still grass to cut, lines to paint, and a lineup card to turn it.

Easier said than done for Head Coach Michael Dean. Before every game Dean travels through the hallls of Mills High School looking for his next star.

"I would literally go to Mills at noon and start chroming the hallways looking for players."

For five years Dean was the head baseball coach at North Pulaski. That is until the school planned to merge with the new Jacksonville school district and the Falcon baseball program was no more. "That kind of hit me hard, that was kind of upsetting, I wanted to fight for my kids."

Dean was no longer had his head coaching position but just weeks later, he suddenly faced a much more difficult loss. In September Michael and his wife Kristi's son Jordan took his own life. To deal with the grief, Michael planned to step away from coaching for the year.

"You know I didn’t have any want to, didn’t want to teach. Didn’t want to do anything and so I thought maybe that’s a good thing." But then in February, after missing the game he loved, Dean received a call from Mills high school who suddenly needed a helping hand on the diamond.

"I look at that as an answered prayer and I believe that things work out for the good of things."

Before You Leave, Check This Out