Taylor Barber is back: former Tift County softball coach returns as Colquitt County head softball coach

MOULTRIE, GA – It’s always good to go back home. That’s what Colquitt County’s new softball head coach, Taylor Barber, did as he was announced as the new skipper for his alma mater on Tuesday after spending the past five seasons at Tift County.

During the softball tournament that took place earlier this week in Moultrie, Mary Alex Anders and I caught up with the first year skipper who had a specific reason why he went from the Blue Devils to the Packers.

“It’s good for me and my family because I’ve made the drive back and forth for the last five years, and my wife and my kids sacrificed a lot for me to be over there and they were fully invested in that Blue Devil nation and being a part of that,” Barber said. “I thought the opportunity presented itself and I got a chance to come back home.”

Barber will be taking over for Chance Pitts who was just announced as the school’s slow-pitch head coach. Over the last eight seasons, Pitts was the winningest head softball coach in school history, helping them win over 150 games and three region championships.

But Barber is no stranger to success either. During his tenure with the Blue Devils, the skipper had three state appearances, one sweet-sixth team birthed in 2022, five all-state selections, and was also the 2020 Region 1-7A Coach of the Year. Now he looks to pick up right when he left off in Moultrie.

“My goal is to build relationships with them, get in front of the parents so they understand what we’re expecting of them,” Barber said. “We’ll get with the coaching staff … and kind of throw the ideas out there of what I would like to do and the things that we’d like to do in our program. And then in July, we’ll implement them and we’ll hit the ground running.”