Blake Colston
sports@piedmontnewsonline.com
Piedmont has its new head baseball coach.
Midwest City head coach Adam Skokowski’s hire was made official by the Piedmont school board on Monday evening, closing a month-long search for Kory Williams’ replacement.
“I think (Piedmont) has a great program that Kory did a good job with,” Skokowski said. “It seems to be an area that supports baseball really well, so I’m excited to get started.”
Skokowski takes over for Williams who went 187-119 in eight seasons with three state tournament appearances – two consecutive for the first time in program history – and a state title game appearance in 2016.
Skokowski spent the previous four years and 10 of the last 12 on staff at Midwest City. He compiled a 70-69 record in four years as head coach there after serving as an assistant coach for eight seasons. He was an assistant at Southmoore for two years between stints at Midwest City.
Skokowski, who lives in Edmond with his wife Brandi and infant daughter, said the chance to coach closer to home made the decision an easy one. He met with his Midwest City Bomber team on Tuesday to inform them of the move.
“It’s a better fit for our family,” he said. “I knew Midwest City wasn’t a lifetime, even though it’s a place that means a lot me after spending 16 years there.”
His team’s at Midwest City fell short of the state tournament each of the last four years, but the Bombers put together a 28-9 season in 2016.
“The kids that were baseball players really put their heart into it, but there aren’t as many of them,” he said. “You deal with a lot of kids coming out for baseball for the first time in their freshman year of high school.”
Still, Midwest City produced seven players that went on to play in college while Skokowski was head coach, including 2018 All-State shortstop DeClaudio Irvin who committed to play at Arkansas-Little Rock and eventually signed with Connors State College.
Participation was up and down during Skokowski’s time at MWC. Last season, the Bombers finished the year with 39 total players to field a freshman, junior varsity and varsity team.
Particiaption likely won’t be a problem he deals with in Piedmont. Skokowski met with his new team Wednesday and plans to help out with the ‘Cats summer team as they wind down their schedule.
“I’m ready to get to work,” he said.
The coach said work ethic and teaching lessons than extend beyond baseball are important to him as a coach.
“I’ve had to work for everything I’ve gotten in life and I want the kids that play for me to understand how important that is for them,” he said. “I want them to learn about more than just baseball.”
He repeated an old baseball adage when asked what his first priority is for his players on the field.
“I want our teams to be able to control what they can control,” he said. “I’m going to ask every player to control their attitude, concentration and effort on every play without worrying about things outside of our control like umpires or anything like that.”
Skokowski, 37, grew up in an Air Force family and moved from Spokane to Buffalo to Oklahoma City as a kid. His family eventually settled in Midwest City where he attended high school.
After high school, he graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma with his bachelors degree and has since earned a Masters degree in sports administration from East Central.
