Zion Chapel High School has decided that Ryan McNaughton will become the next baseball coach for the Rebels.

McNaughton will be filling the coaching role after previous head coach Bubba Nall resigned his duties as both baseball and football head coach last Wednesday.

With just over a week to prepare, McNaughton has been thrown into the fire and step one is getting to know his new crop of players.

“I have been with pitchers before so I knew some of the kids,” McNaughton said. “This biggest thing moving forward is I told the guys it’s on a short notice. We are trying to learn one another, because being a head coach is far different then being a volunteer pitching coach. I want to make that the kids know that I am here for them. At the end of the day I have their backs and they have mind.”

Other then winning a lot of games McNaughton hopes his kids continues the culture that the baseball program has grown over the last few years and he hopes to be a coach his players can look up to.

“There are going to be some times when there is going to be adversity because they are so young, but at the end of the day if you go about it the right way, it’s all going to pay off,” McNaughton said.

Zion Chapel will be McNaughton’s first coaching position after he played junior college baseball at Snead State Community College.

“I want to be a positive role model,” McNaughton said. “Part of being an educator is we are here to teach them whether it’s on the baseball field or in the classroom. We are role models in and out of the classroom.”

The Rebels will open up their 2017 season on Tuesday afternoon.