Asheboro baseball coach Brett Hoogkamp makes a mound visit during a game this season. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)
ASHEBORO – Asheboro baseball coach Brett Hoogkamp has stepped down, but he’s bound to be involved in area athletics again.
Hoogkamp announced his intentions to resign shortly after the Blue Comets lost in the first round of the Class 3-A state playoffs Tuesday night. He finished his eighth season in the position.
“It has been a good eight years,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed it. Once I got into coaching, it was kind of a dream of mine (to be a head coach) and I got to live it out. It was a win-win for me.”
With a wife, a 4-year-old son and 6-month-old daughter, he said it’s time for more family time as a husband and father.
Hoogkamp, 37, said he’ll likely have a future role in area athletics, perhaps when his children are older.
“I do love it,” he said, though noting schedule conflicts this spring with the Blue Comets and his son’s youth league activities. “But I don’t want to miss my kids growing up.”
Asheboro had three winning seasons under Hoogkamp, who compiled an 87-88 overall record. A 21-8 record in his first season in 2017 and a 13-3 mark and share of a conference championship in the pandemic-adjusted 2021 season were among the highlights.
Asheboro finished this year with a 9-17 record. The Blue Comets tied for fourth place with a 4-6 mark in the Mid-Piedmont Conference.
Second-seeded West Henderson defeated No. 31 seed Asheboro 3-0 in the West Region game in the state playoffs.
“Looking forward to seeing this group I finished with continue to grow and become great young men on and off the field,” Hoogkamp said.
Asheboro churned out several college baseball players under Hoogkamp. That’s an aspect of the job he enjoyed.
He recalled a situation several years ago when the Blue Comets were on a road trip. Austin Curry, a catcher, rushed from the back of the bus to share news that he had received a call from a college coach. That turned out leading to a spot in the Lenoir-Rhyne program.
“The biggest thing was the relationships with the kids and seeing them grow on and off the field,” Hoogkamp said.
A 2005 Southwestern Randolph graduate, he spent four years as a Randleman assistant coach before taking the Asheboro job.
Hoogkamp will remain a physical education teacher at South Asheboro Middle School. He said he might find a role in athletics there.
