Ariton’s baseball program will finish the rest of the season with a new head coach.
Ariton principal Josh Herring confirmed to the Dothan Eagle Tuesday that head coach Logan Dunlap resigned from the position on Monday, though he still remains as a physical education teacher at nearby Ariton Elementary School.
Herring did not say why Dunlap resigned, referring questions to Dunlap. Efforts by the Dothan Eagle to reach Dunlap on Tuesday were unsuccessful.
“All I can tell you is he resigned as of yesterday (Monday) and anything else you will have to ask him,” Herring said. “He resigned in baseball as a coach. He is still teaching elementary P.E.”
Herring said Bob Pickett, who joined the staff this season, has been named interim head coach. Pickett has previous head coaching experience at Pike Liberal Arts and Macon-East. Pickett’s first game was on Monday night when the Purple Cats lost to Pike Liberal Arts 13-12.
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Dunlap has guided the Purple Cats since the 2020 season, amassing a 64-36-1 record, including 8-4-1 this season. Both his 2021 and 2022 teams reached the Class 2A state semifinals before losing to rival G.W. Long in dramatic, legendary three-game series.
A G.W. Long graduate who played for both Earl and Drew Miller in Skipperville, Dunlap was also a head coach at Northside Methodist Academy in Dothan for two seasons in 2011-12 after serving as an assistant coach for one season under Sam Cochran at NMA.
After his tenure at Northside Methodist, he joined Drew Miller’s staff at G.W. Long, a position he held for two years before becoming an assistant coach at Enterprise under former G.W. Long teammate Rick Pruitt for two seasons with emphasis as a pitching coach.
Following a couple of years in the business sector in Birmingham, he was hired at Ariton in June of 2019.
In addition to his baseball roles, Dunlap has been an assistant coach in football at G.W. Long, Enterprise and at Ariton.
Dunlap graduated from G.W. Long in 2007 and signed to play baseball at Faulkner University but transferred to play at Central Alabama Community College in Alexander City.
Under Dunlap, Ariton finished 11-5 in his first season in the COVID-19 interrupted 2020 season before earning records of 24-11 and 21-16 the last two seasons.
