Copperas Cove Baseball program to get third head coach in four years
By TJ MAXWELL
Cove Leader-Press
Since former coach Dusty Brittain left the Copperas Cove baseball program for Seguin in 2017, the program has undergone some changes.
With the departure of former athletic director Jack Welch and much of his staff and the addition of athletic director Jack Alvarez and his new hires brought in former Ennis coach Bob Macy to run the Cove baseball program.
After just one year, Macy relinquished his duties and the Bulldawgs promoted assistant coach and Copperas Cove alum Bryant Lopez to the head coaching position.
Bryant’s first season at the helm was interrupted by the Coronavirus pandemic after just barely getting started and this past season, Bryant led the Bulldawgs to a postseason berth.
With the departure of Lopez, the Bulldawgs usher in a new era with the addition of Daniel Carrillo, who comes from Class 4A, District 3 Big Spring in the Permian Basin.
Carrillo coached Big Spring for five years and led the squad to their first outright district title in 27 years in 2019.
Carrillo was an assistant coach at Midland Lee before taking the head coaching job at Big Spring and played for the Lee Rebels prior to taking an assistant role with the club.
He is proud of his time at Big Spring, but is also excited about the new opportunity.
“It was a really good first head job experience,” Carrillo said in an interview with Christopher Hadorn of the Midland Reporter-Telegram. “I learned a lot. I was just really blessed to have that support from the parents and the community. You don’t always get that, especially being a head coach at my age when I first got here at 26. They could have easily rolled their eyes and questioned me, but I never got that here. Now that I’m finally leaving, it’s a bittersweet moment. It’s been a lot tougher than I thought it would be. But at the end of the day, I’m excited.”
Carrillo takes over a Bulldawg program that went 19-16 overall and 8-6 in District 12-6A action a year ago and earned a playoff berth with play-in win over Temple for the fourth and final playoff spot.