As we start our voyage into the new year, it’s a good time to evaluate the Bainbridge and Decatur County sports scene.

In my opinion, we have strong coaches heading up all of our Bainbridge High School Bearcats and Lady Cats sports programs.

In Bearcats head football coach Ed Pilcher, we have one of the most successful and highly respected coaches in the state of Georgia.

He has coached for 40 years, been a head coach for 26 years, won more than 200 games and won five state championships at Thomas County Central High School.

This season, he led the Bearcats to an outstanding 8-2 regular season, a strong third-place finish in Region 1-AAAA and a berth in the first round of the State Class AAAA playoffs.

Bearcats head basketball coach Rickey McCullough is also one of the top coaches in his sport.

A member of the Florida Circle of Champions Basketball Hall of Fame, McCullough had many outstanding seasons at Chipley (Fla.) High School before coming to Bainbridge.

Lady Cats head basketball coach Kelvin Cochran is one of the top young coaches around.

In addition to coaching the Lady Cats, who he recently led to the BSN Sports Adidas /Seminole Wind Holiday Hoopfest championship, he helps keep athletes in shape in the weight room.

He guides them through their weight training routines and also does an excellent job coaching linebackers for the Bearcats’ football team.

Bearcats head baseball coach Scott Miller led the Marianna (Fla.) High School Bulldogs to the Florida State Class 3A baseball championship in 1999.

This spring, the Bainbridge High School Bearcats track team, with coaches Larry Clark and Larry Cosby leading their way, will be gunning for their 14th straight Region championship. Cosby led the 2010 Bearcats to the State Class AAAA Track Championship.

Tandria Cox Phillips, an outstanding sprinter at Bainbridge High School and Albany State University, does an outstanding job coaching the Bainbridge High School Lady Cats track team.

I covered Cosby and Phillips during their Bainbridge High School track days and I know what kind of great competitors they were.

That competitiveness carries over to their coaching and is exemplified in their athletes. With the kind of coaches we have in all Bainbridge High School sports, things can only get better.

Joe Crine is the sports editor of The Post-Searchlight. You can email him at joe.crine@thepostsearchlight.com