Portland baseball hires Scott Hunt as head coach for next season

Former Greenbrier coach Scott Hunt, who was hired Tuesday at Portland, talks with his team during action against the Panthers in 2023. FILE Coach Scott Steinbrecher will step down for the second time from Portland baseball when the season concludes in the coming weeks. Already announced in his place is a twice-retired state champion in Scott Hunt. Hunt will succeed Steinbrecher, who remains as Portland’s girls basketball coach, starting next spring. “I got to know Scott when he was coaching middle school basketball at Rucker (Stewart),” Steinbrecher said. “…More importantly, Scott’s just a good Christian man. He’s a good human being, knows the game really well, and so it’s gonna be leaving the program in great hands.” Hunt scouted for the Atlanta Braves (1996-1999), San Diego Padres (2009-12) and Chicago Cubs (2019-2022) and across three decades coached at seven area high schools, including Beech, Lebanon, Trousdale County, Friendship Christian, Stewarts Creek and Greenbrier. He won the Class A state tournament as a member of the Commanders coaching staff in 2013. In his latest head coaching stop, at Greenbrier in 2023, Hunt reached 26 wins and the Class 3A tournament. He re-entered retirement after his lone season with the Bobcats. Since then, Hunt has taught at White House Middle School. “I loved my time at Greenbrier and would probably still be there if I hadn’t had the family situation that I’ve had,” Hunt said. “But I’m looking forward to getting back into it and giving it my best shot and hopefully can give Portland some good years.” With Hunt’s hiring, the Panthers completed their near yearlong search for a permanent baseball coach. Steinbrecher returned to the role in the interim in December 2023 after Seth Doxey’s resignation, and he remained in it while coaching girls basketball the last two years. Steinbrecher was previously Portland’s baseball coach in 2022. Hunt is well affiliated with Portland’s administration already. Steinbrecher and Brianna Gillen, the former Greenbrier girls basketball coach now with the Panthers, first asked Hunt if he would be interested in returning to coaching weeks ago. Portland Principal David Woods remembered him and Hunt having lunch duty together when they both coached at Beech in the early 2000s. “He’s probably forgotten more baseball than I’ll ever know,” Woods said. “He’s just a wealth of knowledge, and I think he’ll be good for our kids. … He’ll coach them the right way, and he’ll get the best out of what we’ve got.” Hunt is the son of Hall of Fame Cumberland baseball coach Woody Hunt, who won 1,630 games and three NAIA national championships, and the older brother of former Phoenix coach Ryan Hunt. Portland finished fourth in the District 9-3A standings in the regular season with a 13-18 overall record. The Panthers started their postseason Wednesday facing Hunt’s former team in Greenbrier. “When you’re on the back side of a career … I’m really just looking at (it) year-by-year,” Hunt said. “Portland is close to my house. It’s a short drive for me. I used to live there. Many years ago, my wife and I built a home there so I lived there, and it’s very familiar. “I’ve got some extra time now, and I thought ‘You know what? Maybe we can see how this goes year-by-year.’ And if things work out, for both sides, then it’s a positive. I’m just trying to take it one step at a time and just trying to go where I’m supposed to be.”