After a 32-season career, Brownwood Lions baseball head coach Blake Sandford announced his retirement Friday.
Sandford – in his second stint with the Lions, this one lasting two seasons – led Brownwood to the District 6-4A baseball championship in 2024 and a playoff berth again in 2025. The Lions posted a 37-26-1 overall mark in that time with a bi-district championship as well, and four players will be going on to play collegiate baseball.
Sandford addressed the Lion players Friday morning regarding his future plans.
“I’m choosing my wife Kim, and family, and traveling, and being able to spend less time at work and doing more things like that,” Sandford said. “It was a good, opportune time.”
Reflecting on his most cherished moments as coach, Sandford said, “It’s the relationships with the players. When they’re still coming back, and hanging around and inviting me to weddings, and letting me how they’re doing in their late 30s and 40s, that’s the foundation for what we consider success. From today’s freshmen that are 14 to that group of guys that graduated a long time ago, that’s quite the span of athlete and young man. The scoreboard is a measuring tool, but in reality it’s not. They understand that the process is the most important thing, and the roots that are laid down for that foundation of that process, not what their batting average is or what the score is. Come to practice, participate and trust in the leadership that they’re given.”
Before returning to Brownwood, Sandford served as an assistant coach for Howard Payne for two years. Sanford was also Brownwood’s head coach for the 2013 campaign – where the Lions posted a 20-13 record and advanced to the second round of the playoffs. Sandford also served as a head coach twice at Early and was an assistant coach at Bangs.
Along with his coaching career, Sandford for 12 years served as a professional baseball scout for MLB’s Cincinnati Reds and New York Yankees, helping both organizations in talent development. In 2015, the University Interscholastic League awarded him the highly-regarded Sponsor Excellence Award, recognizing his community leadership programs. In 2019, Sandford – then serving as head football coach and athletic director at Early – announced his first retirement from coaching.
Information on the processor to determine Sandford’s successor was not available Friday, but Brownwood ISD Athletic Director Mitch Moore will address that and more Monday on the Brownwood Lions Coaches Show on KOXE 101.3 FM at 5:30 p.m.
