Varsity Head Coach- Corey Gochee     Phone: (770) 606-5870  ext. 5273

                                                                                                           Email: corey.gochee@bartow.k12.ga.us

Corey Gochee is entering his 7th season with the Woodland baseball program.  The 2012 season will be Coach Gochee's 5th season as the Wildcat's head coach.

The 2012 team will have some familiar faces as well as some new ones.  With the graduation of some key pitchers the Wildcats will look to some new faces to take over on the mound.  There will be some big shoes to fill on the mound as well as a few key positions in the lineup.  However, with six returning starters and some talented new faces he expects them to get back to the playoffs.  The 2011 season saw the Cats get back into the playoffs but were ousted by Kell in the first round.  In 2010 the Cats were 15-11, missing the playoffs for the third straight year.  In 2009 the Cats finished 14-11 missing the playoffs by one game.  In 2008, under Gochee, the team went 10-16 as they were rebuilding from losing nine seniors, seven starters from 2007.  In 2007 the Wildcats set many new team records including the number of wins (26), strikeouts (274), ERA (2.01), walks (53) and games played (32).  The 2007 team capped off the season by advancing to the Elite-8.  In 2006 Coach Gochee's pitching staff led the charge to the school's first region championship and first state playoff appearance. 

Before coming to Woodland, Gochee was the head baseball and head softball coach at Excel Christian Academy in Cartersville, Georgia.  Prior to coaching the Eagles at Excel, he served as assistant coach at his alma mater, Berry College, for three seasons (1999-2001).  At Berry, Coach Gochee primarily worked with catchers while assisting with hitters and  with recruiting.

As a player Gochee was a standout catcher at Seminole Community College in Lake Mary, Florida (1995-96) and Berry College in Mount Berry, Georgia (1997-98).  He earned 1st-Team All-Conference honors in 1996 and 1998.  He finished his playing career at Berry where he helped the Vikings win the TranSouth Conference Tournament Championship and earned a berth in the Mid-South Regional Tournament in 1997.

At Berry College, he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in History in 1999 and his Master of Science degree in Education in 2001.  In July 2010 he completed his Ed.S in Curriculum and Instruction.  A native of Sanford, Florida, Coach Gochee currently lives in Cartersville, Georgia with his wife LeAnne, 6 year old daughter Lillian Jade, and 4 year old son Blake Stanley.       

JV Head Coach - Matt Thompson

Matt Thompson is entering his first year with the Woodland High School baseball program.  He currently works as an instructional parapro at Woodland Middle School.

Prior to joining the Wildcats, Coach Thompson spent three seasons as an assistant coach with the Winder-Barrow Bulldoggs (no typo; as they say in Winder, "extra g for extra effort").  While there, Coach Thompson worked mainly with the JV and freshmen teams.  Among his duties were coaching first basemen, instructing hitters, and calling pitches for the JV.

Born and raised in Cartersville, Georgia, Coach Thompson attended Cass High School.  He played first base for the Colonels and received Georgia Dugout Club senior all-state honors in 2005.  He attended college at the University of Georgia, earning a BSED in Sport Management and a MAT in Business Education.

Coach Thompson currently lives in Bartow County with his wife, Emily.

 Assistant Coach - Justin Dover

Justin Dover is entering his 4th year as a teacher and coach at WHS.  Dover will serve as an assistant coach to the varsity team, working with the infielders and hitters.  His teaching duties include Special Education. 

Assistant Coach - Joshua Ruger

Joshua Ruger is entering his 5th year with the Woodland baseball coaching staff, and is very excited to have the opportunity to work with Coach Gochee and the rest of the coaching staff. He has spent the last eight years coaching Swimming and Diving for Woodland in Cartersville, Southside High in Elmira, and was a Diving and Strength and Conditioning coach for Lemoyne College in 2003-2004.

In high school, Coach Ruger was a catcher and utility player for Athens Area High School in Athens, Pennsylvania. After high school, he was recruited to play for UTK, Mansfield University and LeMoyne College.  Coach Ruger received his B.A. in both Mathematics and Philosophy and a minor in Education at LeMoyne College.

Coach Ruger currently resides in Cartersville, GA with his wife Jessica and teaches mathematics at Woodland High School.  In his six years as a Swimming and Diving coach at Woodland High School, the boys' record was 4-3 in 2005 and 5-3 in 2006, and the girls were 6-1 in 2005 and 8-0 in 2006. The team has broken 13 school records, and 7 girls qualified for state competition in 2007, the most in school history.

Assistant Coach- Greg Thacker 

Greg Thacker is entering his 5th season with the Woodland baseball program.  His first season was back in 2002 before he opened Line Drive, an indoor baseball/softball training facility. Coach Thacker logged over 3000 hours of instructing hitting and pitching fundamentals over a three year period while the owner of Line Drive.

Prior to Woodland, Coach Thacker was a Head Coach in the Atlanta Stan Musial summer league for three years and an assistant coach at his alma mater, Hiawassee College for two years where he was mainly responsible for outfielders and pitchers while also assisting with recruiting.

As a player he prepped at Cartersville High School where he mainly played the outfield. Collegiately he played for Hiawassee Junior College and Tennessee Wesleyan College and finished with a career batting average over .300.

Coach Thacker is a native of Cartersville where he resides with his wife Louisa, daughter Ann, and son Alan.

Assistant Coach- Brandon Ayers

Brandon Ayers  bio under construction.