JACKSONVILLE — Jacksonville Indian baseball fans have not had much to get excited about for most of the past decade.

It appears things could be changing for Tribe baseball however, as the program has a new leader — Mike Eckles, who comes to Jacksonville after leading Luling High School to a regional semi-final appearance this past season.

Eckles, a graduate and former baseball standout at Lubbock Monterey High School, a perennial state power on the diamond, went on to pitch collegiatly at Lubbock Christian University and at Texas Tech University in the late 80's.

He has also served as head baseball coach at Shallower, Lubbock Monterey, Amarillo, Grapevine and Tulia High Schools.

Eckles is a turnaround specialist, plain and simple — he specializes in getting baseball trains back on track and in taking programs from the lower rungs of the district ladder to being playoff-caliber teams.

In his two seasons at Luling, he restored the program to a regional power.

The Eagles were ranked in the Class 2A poll on two occasions and finished with an impressive 27-8 record and were the District 29-2A champions.

Prior to his arrival at Luling, Eckles headed up the Shallowater baseball program where he guided the Mustangs to three district titles in four years.

“We're excited about getting Mike Eckles to come to Jacksonville,” Chris Taber, Jacksonville athletic director said. “He has proven on more than one occasion that he has what it takes to turn a baseball program around and for that reason I believe he will be a good fit here.”

Eckles said that he welcomes the challenge that lies ahead for him in Jacksonville.

“I'm excited to have an opportunity to come to Jacksonville,” Eckles said. “Building successful programs has been my forte through the years and that is a lot of fun for me.”

Eckles said that it is very important to him to work closely with the local youth league baseball organization in properly grooming the Indians of the future.

“I am passionate about working with the local Little League program and help set up programs where we can measure the development of each age group,” Eckles said. “I want to make baseball better in Jacksonville, not just at the high school level, but in general.”

As far as the Tribe varsity, Eckles gave this sneak peak into his blueprint for success.

“The big thing that people can expect is fundamentally sound teams,” he said. “We will steal a lot of bases and try to control the tempo of the game. We'll bunt a lot to move guys around and we will try to force other teams to make mistakes.”

Eckles said one of the first orders of business will be to find a quality catcher, and from there he will look for guys to get the job done on the mound.

As an added bonus, Tribe baseball should benefit from the arrival of Eckles' son, Brett, who just happens to be a pretty formidable pitcher.

The younger Eckles, who will be a senior in the fall, posted an 8-1 record at Luling last year and was picked to the 29-2A All-District (First) Team.

Mike Eckles and wife Trisha, who works as a nurse, are also parents of son Ryan, who is a sophomore at the University of Texas.

Coach Eckles said his sons were named after two Major League baseball Hall of Fame superstars, Nolan Ryan and George Brett.

How's that for a true baseball family?

NOTE — Mike Eckles was a member of Michael Waldie's coaching staff at Luling...Waldie was named as the Tribe's defensive coordinator earlier this year...”I really have a great amount of respect for coach Waldie,” Eckles said. “He's an outstanding person. I looking forward to continuing to work with Coach Waldie as we serve on Coach Taber's staff in Jacksonville.”