Bates returns to PHS as head coach

Joe Bates has coached girls softball for a number of years in a variety of areas. He will be going back to the high school level next spring.

As reported previously by Twitter, Bates was named as the new varsity softball at Princeton High School on Wednesday.

He was an assistant coach at PHS from 2011-14 (one year with F/S, three with the varsity), coached at Logan Junior High, and has been a travel coach with the Bureau County Blaze for 10 years.

The new Tigresses coach is excited to get started.

“I think there’s a lot of good things going on, and it’s time to crank them up a little further,” he said. “There’s talent in every class there. I think that just needs to be developed and put in the right places and let ’em do their thing.”

While he knows the freshman and sophomore classes more directly, having coached at the junior high, Bates said the juniors and seniors “are certainly no strangers to me.”

His daughter, Katie, will be a freshman member of the program this year.

PHS athletic director Jeff Ohlson said he is pleased to add Bates with his variety of experiences.

“I think coach Bates will do a great job for us. He has a lot of experience, especially on the travel side, knows the game real well. I know he coached here prior to my arrival with coach (Bob) James. He’ll do a wonderful job for us.”

Ohlson said Bates having coached at the junior high will provide some stability with carry-over with high school girls.

Bates said he is most interested in the journey.

“We want to establish a culture of striving for excellence in everything we do, whether it’s on the field or off the field,” he said. “And it’s not just the physical development of skills, but the mental approach of the game. Just having that mindset in everything we do. We’re not going to be perfect in everything we do, but we can learn as we go along and continue to strive for excellence and how we play the game.”

Bates succeeds Brik Wedekind, who coached just one year.