One of the busiest coaching carousels in the history of the Texas Panhandle saw yet another big name added to the list of departures Thursday afternoon. There have been some shocking moves this off-season, but Thursday’s announcement may have been the biggest one yet.
Randall head baseball coach Cory Hamilton, who just led the Raiders to their first state tournament appearance in 16 years, announced his retirement on Thursday. He spent 15 years as the head baseball coach at RHS.
Hamilton oversaw perhaps the most successful season of any team in the Panhandle this year as he guided the Raiders to 32 straight wins and the 4A state tournament in Austin. Six seniors are signed on to play collegiate baseball, including one at the Division I level in Kole Dudding, who will play for College World Series participant Oral Roberts. Hamilton oversaw the development of all of them.
Randall went 366-156-3 under Hamilton’s leadership and he won 424 games overall in 23 years as a head coach in general. Despite the loss of the six seniors, Hamilton leaves behind an outstanding core nucleus of talent for whomever takes the reigns next. Texas Tech commit Hagen Shedd will be back alongside a slew of other future college players in Logan Tice, Carson Haffner and others.
Though Hamilton confirmed his retirement to the Amarillo Globe-News, he did not immediately respond when asked what his future plans were. He and his wife Laura have a daughter in her early years of life.
As far as who will replace Hamilton, there’s no telling there either. Steven Coursey, Scott Easton and Brad Propst all served as assistant coaches for the Raiders this past season and Hamilton frequently spoke highly of all of them throughout the year. With so many talented players coming back, though, it will be an attractive job for any interested candidates.
This will be the fourth head coaching position at Randall to become available this cycle. The position of head football coach came open upon the retirement of Gaylon Selman in early May. That job was ultimately filled by Dan Sherwood, formerly of Caprock.
The position of girls golf head coach remains open following the resignation of Kasey Ketelhut to spend more time with her family. The boys soccer position, which became open following Luke Strong’s departure to take the same role at Caddo Mills, also remains open. Canyon ISD Athletic Director Toby Tucker did not immediately respond when asked about the status of those two positions.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Randall baseball coach Cory Hamilton announces retirement after 15 years with the Raiders