Baseball pioneer

Harding Academy coach brings title to school despite being out of game for more than 30 years

By Eric Moore

LITTLE ROCK — The Harding Academy baseball program may be in its infancy, but it has something that most other schools do not: a state championship.

For head coach Dennis Rine, being able to lead a program from a thought to a state championship has been a fun and rewarding experience.

Originally from West Virginia, Rine came to Searcy in 1976 as a junior at Harding College. Although he played baseball in high school, his collegiate pursuits were basketball and cross country, and when he got a job with Harding Academy in 1979, he was part of the football staff.

So how does someone with those credentials not only get a head baseball job, but lead them to a state championship?

“One of the things I’ve felt is God has blessed me and this program,” Rine said.

In his 30 years at the school, Rine’s piled up more than a few good memories. Whether it was the chance to coach his own son Casey or coaching the sons of people who were in his program years ago.

“One of the most rewarding things is when players come back and talk about their games,” Rine said.

Rine’s decision to become a coach occurred while he was still in college enjoying the “athletic experience.” But in his time as a coach, few things have been harder on him, or more rewarding, than when his own two children got to go through the experience.

Coaching his son, Casey, was difficult because he was “under a microscope,” Rine said, and he worried about the perception of giving preferential treatment to Casey. But even more difficult was having to sit in the bleachers and not being able to be hands-on for his daughter, Micah’s, career.

Looking back, Rine said that Micah was like the coach’s daughter in Remember The Titans, a miniature coach roaming the sidelines during practice.

While athletics have been a major part of his life for more than three decades, there is another thing that he gets to do every day that he enjoys just as much - teaching. While in school, Rine received his bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s in education as well as various certifications. Teaching American history during the day and coaching during the evening has made Rine enjoy nearly every second of the last 30 years.

By his side the entire time has been his wife, Terri, who is also a teacher, but at the University of Central Arkansas. The life of acoach’s wife has never been easy, but Terri has tried to become as involved in athletics as she can, making Rine feel even more blessed.

“She’s always been supportive,” Rine said. “She’s highly involved in everything I do, she even runs the concession stand at the games.”

If coaching were taken out of the picture for Rine, he believes his life would still be about athletics. Whether it is watching it on television or keeping up with his grandson, Isaac, he knows that he will always be involved in athletics in some way.

Despite being the “world’s worst fisherman,” Rine does like to spend some free time out on a lake or river with a fishing pole in hand, but if he had his druthers, he would be in Colorado with two pieces of wood strapped to his feet skiing down a mountain or whitewater rafting.

Away from his team, he has no trouble keeping himself entertained, but it is the time spent with his family and his team that he cherishes the most. The state championship this year was a culmination of what he and those at Harding Academy have been working toward for five years.

“Watching them dogpile at the end of the game was a great deal of pleasure,” Rine said. “I hope other teams [that I coach] get to enjoy that.”

Such unbridled joy is acceptable in a situation like that, but one thing above all that Rine expects from his team is for them to present a Christian attitude on the field so that others will see that part of the game.

Rine expects his team to be a reflection of the blessings he said he has received in his life, especially getting the chance to teach a game he has not played himself for many years.

“God works in mysterious ways,” Rine said.

- emoore@ arkansasonline.com

Three Rivers, Pages 116 on 07/13/2008