Jaguar Coach Howell’s eventful baseball journey leads to home in Augusta

By Shelbie Summerlin | Sports writer 

Chris Howell, Augusta University’s head baseball coach from Fitzgerald (Georgia) credits his dad, Sammy Howell, for getting him into baseball at a young age. 

“My dad was my mentor growing up, so he was always the one that kind of pushed me to excel in sports and be active in everything.” Howell said.

Watching his dad coach helped him fall in love with the game. 

In high school, Howell played a bunch of sports—baseball, football, basketball, even a little track—but he said when it came time to decide on college ball, he knew he wanted to play, just didn’t know where to start. 

“I had the opportunity to go play at Pensacola Junior College [now Pensacola State College], so I went two years down there and started the JUCO route,” Howell said. “I kept my options open and had a chance to go down there and have a pretty good two years, and then had the opportunity to go look at some schools on some visits and then just fell in love with Tennessee.” 

While at Tennessee, Howell said he started out as a third baseman in his first year, then he came back as just a pitcher the next year due to injury and illness. 

“I got hurt my first year, and it was a big stage,” Howell said. “I dealt with some performance anxiety, so I had to do a lot of training with the mental approach to the game. It was just a bigger moment for me, and performance anxiety was something I struggled with. My second year. I was able to kind of get a grasp on just being older and maturing and understanding the competitive part.” 

Howell had some of his biggest accomplishments at the University of Tennessee, times he will never forget. 

“We went to the College World Series in 2005. That’s something that I’ll always remember, great memories, great team, we had a special group,” Howell said. “We had a record-breaking year, as far as wins.” 

Howell also loved doing community service and knew that was important to him as well as baseball. 

“I took pride in trying to help others, so I was a representative for the University of Tennessee on the Good Works Team which just involved me going to the hospitals and trying to help people,” Howell said. “That’s something I always wanted to do, was just help people and put a smile on some kids’ faces. I hang my hat on stuff like that.” 

Looking back on how he pushed himself through struggles to achieve his dreams, Howell said he chased his goals early because he thinks that dictates qualities such as work ethic and character. 

“In 10th grade, my high school coach sat me down and asked me what schools I wanted to go to and one of those schools was Tennessee,” said Howell. “Every day that passed by was a day that I could get after it and try to achieve my goal.” 

Howell went on to pitch for the Los Angeles Angels after his college career. 

“The personal instruction from professional baseball is what kind of pushed me to get into coaching,” said Howell. 

Howell then spent four years as a schoolteacher at a private school called Tift Area Academy in Tifton while figuring out his next step. At the school, the head coach of the baseball team at the time, “tricked” Howell into becoming the new head coach. The school had hired Howell as a pitching coach, but when he got there, Howell said the head coach gave him “the keys” to be the new head coach. 

“I was excited to get into the coaching world,” Howell said, after his time at Tift Area where he won the state championship his first year and went runner-up the next. 

Howell started out as a pitching coach at Augusta University, and soon the city became home for him and his family. 

“I’m from a small town, so I’ve always enjoyed a bigger place to live,” Howell said. “Augusta has a lot to offer. It’s a big city. It was an outstanding place to raise a family. The support and just the broad spectrum of what they’re trying to do here was exciting.” 

Now, as the head baseball coach at Augusta University, Howell wants to teach the game because the game’s been good to him.

“Something I’ve always kind of lived by was if you be good to the game, the game will be good to you,” said Howell.

Contact Shelbie Summerlin at ssummerlin@augusta.edu.

Coach Chris Howell (R) gets in some one-on-one instruction with Ben Markiewicz during the offseason for the Augusta University baseball team. At the top of the page, Howell works with Paxton Tolleson. (photos by Shelbie Summerlin)