Fresh off a championship with the Henderson Flash Sunday night, coach J.D. Arndt received more good news Tuesday when it was announced that he will be the next head baseball coach next season at Henderson County High School.
In addition to being the head man in the dugout for the Flash since 2017, Arndt has spent time in the Cols dugout as well, working as an assistant to former head coach Adam Hines from 2018-2023.
Arndt said he was “honored and blessed” to get the top spot at the high school.
He’ll still manage the Flash in the summer, but said he’ll put the Cols number one during those times the seasons overlap. That occurs during district, regional and state tournament play at the high school—in late May and June—and is arranged in a way that the teams practice at different times, leaving the coach to shuttle back and forth from the two fields, Arndt said.
Arndt, 58, will serve on an interim status and said that came at his request as a way for the school to make sure he’s the coach it wants. He said his intentions are to stay beyond one year.
He didn’t see much of the Cols team last year so he’ll go into the year with an open mind. But his coaching style will not change no matter the personnel, he said.
“It’s about playing fundamental baseball, and it starts from day one,” Arndt said, adding he believes the Cols will get back to the level the team was under Hines. The Cols finished 11-25 last spring under coach Ted Thompson, who took another job over the summer. In the 2023 season, the Cols went to the state Final Four.
Arndt has led the Henderson Flash from 2017 to present, winning four division titles and one league championship.
Arndt earned both his undergraduate and master’s degree from Missouri Baptist University and served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Spartans for five years.
Arndt, who considers himself a student of the game, said he’s been coaching for 40 years, starting soon after high school.
From 2003-2010, Arndt coached eight seasons of professional baseball with the Rockford RiverHawks of the Independent League, where he worked as the team’s hitting coach for six years and the team’s manager for two.
According to an HCHS release, Arndt’s resume includes:
• Fourteen years as a college baseball coach, Cuyahoga Community College (Ohio); Flagler College (St. Augustine, Florida); Missouri Baptist University (St. Louis Mo.)
• Six years as minor league hitting coach/infield coach: two years as a minor league manager (two playoff appearances)
• Four years as head coach in the Alaskan Baseball League and Great Lakes Collegiate League
• 2004 League Championship in professional baseball
• 2006 Division Championship in professional baseball as field manager
• 2007 Wild Card Champions in professional baseball as field manager
• 3-time all-star in professional baseball; Two as a coach, one as field manager
• 3-time conference champion at Missouri Baptist
• Coached four batting champions and three runner-up batting champions in professional baseball
• Coached more than 40 1st-team All-Conference players in college baseball
• Coached numerous All-Region and All-Americans in college baseball
• Coached more than 40 college players who have signed professional baseball contracts, including two in the major leagues.
Arndt will continue serving as the Youth Services Center Coordinator at South Middle School.
