The Hoptown Hoppers have a new head coach and he is a familiar face to the team’s fans.
Chris Benne has accepted the head coaching position after Andrew Hernandez notified team officials on Saturday that he was stepping down before having coached a game this season.
“Andrew got promoted at Wharton Junior College to recruiting coordinator and he had to step down,” Hoppers General Manager Danny Roberts told WHOP Tuesday morning.
Benne has been an assistant with the Hoppers for two seasons and is the head baseball coach at Clarksville Northwest High School. He is a native of Clarksville and attended Northwest and graduated from UT-Martin.
His coaching experience includes two years as an assistant at Northwest before moving to Chapel Hill, Tenn., to take the baseball and football coaching positions. He led Chapel Hill to the DRVC Championships.
After one season, he returned to Clarksville to take the head coaching position at Northwest.
Benne became an assistant coach for the Hoppers in 2023 under Coach EJ Devarie and remained on the staff through the 2024 season, finishing the season as the interim head coach.
“I’m excited to get back to Hopkinsville this summer and thankful for the Hoppers board and Danny Roberts for trusting me to lead this excellent group of young men,” Benne said. “Hopkinsville is a special town, and it will be a great honor to bring an OVL title back to Hoptown.”
Fans will have a chance to meet Benne and the rest of the team at Meet the Hoppers on May 30 at the Casey Jones Distillery on May 30.
The Hoppers open the season May 31 at Henderson. Their first home game is June 2 against the Full Count Rhythm at Christian County High School’s Colonel Field.
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