North Paulding County High Baseball Coach Wins Statewide Award

DALLAS, GA - North Paulding County High School Baseball Coach Dennis Jordan joined the ranks of the state elite Friday as he was inducted into the Georgia Dugout Club Baseball Hall of Fame.

The ceremony was held at the annual Coaches Convention at the Marietta Hilton Conference Center in Atlanta.

The Class of 2020 includes Jordan, Columbus State University head coach Greg Appleton, former Toombs County head coach Steve Janousek, the late Dennis Payne, Marist head coach Mike Strickland and longtime First Presbyterian Day coach Jim Turner.

“We feel like this an excellent group,” said Georgia Dugout Club Executive Director Harvey Cochran. “All the guys are well-qualified and they deserve it.”

Jordan said he was surprised, and honored.

"I'm thankful and blessed," said the North Paulding head baseball coach. "Shocked may not be the right term. I'm blessed to be able to share the same stage with some of the guys I've coached against."

Jordan graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1982 and the longtime North Paulding and Walton High School head baseball coach got his start as an assistant at South Cobb High in 1983 under the late Frank Worthy, also a Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame member.

In 1986, he got his first head baseball job at Walton High School where he also was a football assistant. Jordan's teams were some of the best in Cobb County and the state. From 1986 to 2002, he coached the Raiders which won the school's first state baseball title in 1992. He guided the program to two state runner-up finishes in 1991 and '96, three trips to the state semifinals and six region titles in Georgia's highest classification.

He was named Georgia Athletic Coaches Association Region Coach of the Year six times, Atlanta Braves 400 Club Coach of the Year twice (1991, '92) and he coached Team Georgia in the Sunbelt Classic from 1992-95.

In 2002, he took over as head baseball coach at Kell High school and was a football assistant for two years. He became Director of Baseball Operations for East Cobb Baseball from 2005 to 2012 before taking over as head baseball coach at North Paulding in 2012.

"Congrats to the best ball Coach I’ve ever known personally," Ryan Fields wrote on Twitter, "for being inducted into the GA Dugout Club HoF. Thank you for making a difference in my life and the sacrifices you made to better @north_paulding."

Jordan's overall coaching record stands at 493-196 and he has taken teams at North Paulding to three quarterfinal appearances.

Jordan has extensive experience coaching travel baseball as well. Since 1995, he has coached the East Cobb Astros 15U team and served as an instructor. He was an assistant on the 16U AAU squad at East Cobb that won the AAU national title seven times, while his 15U team won national titles every year from 2006-2011.

He also guided travel teams to national titles in 2010 and 2011, winning the Perfect Game BCS/WWBA.

"I've been fortunate to be around a lot of high-character people," Jordan said. "Hopefully, along the way, I've done something right."