Over the course of the last decade Cody Luman has played for and coached under several southeastern Oklahoma baseball coaching icons. That experience pretty much made Calera Schools’ choice an easy one in naming their new head baseball coach with Luman slated to direct the Bulldog program starting this fall. He definitely won’t be a new face to the Bulldogs, having coached many of the current crop of players since they were in the fifth grade while serving as the Calera assistant coach for the past five years.
“Eventually I wanted to be a head coach, but really liked where we were at and was happy at Calera as an assistant,” he said. “I was just at the right place at the right time to get this opportunity. I think they are pretty comfortable with me, and I am comfortable and familiar with them here. I’m definitely grateful for the opportunity.
“There are some differences in a few things I will have to handle as head coach but on the field have just been able to slide in and hopefully just keep things status quo. We were able to get some games in the new situation in late June.”
Luman played for John McAlester at Wister, helping lead his team to a state championship in 2011. In college, he played under legends Mark Pollard and Mike Metheny at Carl Albert State College and Southeastern respectively.
After graduating he served two seasons as assistant at Heavener for Ray Glover before moving onto Calera where he assisted Rickey Teafatiller since, including helping the Bulldogs to their best season in school history this past spring when they advanced to the Class 2A Division 1 state semifinals.
“I’ve been fortunate to be around a lot of great coaches and learn from each of them,” Luman commented. “I still fall back on stuff I learned as a player. My first years going into coaching was an adjustment, but Coach Glover and Teafatiller have been very influential to me. I have tried to ask a lot of questions and soak up as much knowledge as I could.”
Now Luman looks to follow in the footsteps of many of his mentors and establish his own head coaching success story.
He will definitely have a chance to do that immediately with one of the most experienced squads anywhere in Oklahoma this fall with eight returning starters and 10 seniors on the roster that he will rely on to lead the charge.
“We have a lot of guys back,” he added. “We made two state tournaments last year and want to keep building off that. We have guys that have been there and should be more comfortable.
“We kind of got over the hump last spring by winning that first state tournament game in school history. That should help take some of the pressure off. Our expectations now shift upward. We have been there (to state) and won. These kids got that taste last year and want to repeat it.”
