Eastside has its new baseball coach. The Newton County Board of Education approved the hire of Brad Weir at Tuesday’s meeting and he will take over as Eastside baseball coach in 2011-12. Weir will teach special education and also coach tight ends for Eastside’s football team.

Weir coached at Wayne County the past three years and guided the Yellow Jackets to three straight Region 2-AAAA championships. Under Weir, Wayne County made it to the Elite 8 in 2009 and Sweet 16 last year. In 2010, the Yellow Jackets made it to the Final Four and won 29 games. Weir tallied a 78-17 record overall while their coach.

"We had done about all we could here (Wayne County)," Weir said. "I’m a special education teacher and I had a very good relationship with my students. When I resigned from Wayne County, I started to work on my masters and I really didn’t think I wanted to coach this year. But this opportunity opened up and the fact that I get to work with Rick (Hurst) and I get to get back a little closer to where I am from made me want to give it a shot."

Weir brings more than 15 years of head coaching experience to Eastside. He’s has run camps at Clemson and Chattanooga State Community College since 1995 and is 193-87 overall as a head baseball coach.

He also brings collegiate playing experience. Weir played college baseball for Cleveland State Community College, Tennessee Weslyan College and Austin Peay and earned NJCCA All American honors at Cleveland State and All-TVAC honors at Tennessee Wesleyan.

During his coaching career, Weir has made stops at Washington County, Bradwell Institute, McIntosh Academy, Brantley County and Lakeview Fort-Oglethorpe.

Originally from Ringold, Weir has turned around several programs. While at McIntosh Academy, he led the team to a school record for wins and two state playoff berths. Washington County made the state playoffs in Weir’s first season and he took Wayne County from a losing record to a Final Four appearance in two years.

"When we took over at Wayne County, we took over a team that was 10-14 and everyone asked me how we were able to turn it around," Weir said. "You have to develop your pitching and we really work hard on our fundamentals. We had a couple of kids who could swing the bat a little, but you have to get in and get your hands dirty. We know how important pitching is. We preach pitch to contact, and we really focus on the fundamentals. That’s really the key."

Weir will also coach tight ends for the football team and is excited to get back to the high school level. He coached football at the middle school level the past three years as well as coaching baseball at Wayne County.

"I’ve always done football and it’s something I enjoyed," Weir said. "I’m excited to get back up to the varsity and I’ll work hard to crossover baseball and football and I’m glad Rick will be there to support that."

Make no mistake about it though, Weir’s primary goal will be building Eastside’s baseball program into a perennial winner. He said he plans to do some renovations to the field and facility and can’t wait to meet his new team. With a lost summer, that will have to wait until the fall.

"It’s always exciting to come in to a new situation and start over and build some things," Weir said. "We’re going to work with them hard. We’re going to get them in the weight room and we’re excited to get them going. Once it gets in your blood it’s in your blood it’s tough to walk away."