By Erik Harris
TRUSSVILLE – The Hewitt-Trussville softball program has made some adjustments to its coaching staff. Former head coach Karen Johns, who also serves as the school’s athletics director, has chosen to promote assistant coach Jordan Burson to be the Huskies’ third head coach in as many years.
Although the title has shifted, Johns still intends to be involved with the team this coming season.
“(I’ll be around) as much as my schedule allows me to be,” said Johns. “I turned the title over to (Burson), but I’m still going to help him some. It’s just a title change.”
Her predecessor received a great deal of softball experience in his time at the University of Alabama from 2008-13. Burson worked as a team manager under Alabama softball coach Patrick Murphy in his time as a student at the Capstone.
“Going into that I didn’t have a ton of softball knowledge. It was a great opportunity for me to be a part of something bigger than myself, and I just learned to love softball,” said Burson of his time in Tuscaloosa.
“Murphy is an awesome guy and he just took me under his wing and I learned from him while he won a national championship and three SEC championships,” he continued.
The Oak Mountain High School alum specializes in pitching. He called all of the pitches for the Huskies in 2015, according to Johns.
Burson wants to use the momentum Hewitt-Trussville built last season in its climb to the state tournament in Montgomery.
“We’re going to continue right where we left off last year,” he said. “We had a great thing going last year and we have an awesome senior class this year.”
Burson went on to explain his team’s hunger to take another step forward this time around.
“They have a huge desire to win a state championship this year. We went to state last year, and that was a huge accomplishment for the girls, but I know they’re hungry to do a little bit more this year,” said Burson.
Erik Harris is the Sports Editor for the Trussville Tribune. Follow him on Twitter @jeharris2 or email him at jmseharris2@gmail.com.