DK Shuman has been around the block.
He got his start as an assistant baseball coach at Charles Henderson before kicking off his head coaching career at Northside Methodist Academy in Dothan for four years.
He had great success in Dothan and was eventually hired as Stanhope Elmore’s head baseball coach in 2019. For six years, he’s been at the helm of Stanhope and he’s just amassed more and more wins.
Last week, in a shutout doubleheader against Pike Road, Shuman notched his 200th career win.
“I really wasn’t thinking about it much at the time,” Shuman said. “Honestly, I didn’t even realize it until after the fact. But it is still a special feeling to be able to do this long enough as a head coach to get that many wins, and it took a lot of help along the way.”
While many coaches amass memories along the way, there’s one moment that truly sticks out in Shuman’s head of his career favorites.
Back in 2021 and 2022, Stanhope Elmore faced off against Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa and were defeated in back-to-back years in the postseason. But 2023 was a different story. Again the squads faced off, this time in the quarterfinals, and it was the Mustangs who got the best of Hillcrest.
“To be able to go into the semifinals and in a way, avenge those previous two classes,” Shuman said. “That one was a little bit more special because all three times we played them, we were always at their place. We’ve never gotten to play them at home, so that one comes to mind a lot just because of the weight of the game and the history behind it. So I’d say that one’s probably my favorite moment.”
Not only was the win against Pike Road a milestone victory for Shuman, it was also a playoff-clincher for the squad. The Mustangs swept the Patriots in three games, putting them into the playoffs and into an area showdown with rival Wetumpka.
Stanhope Elmore sits with 18 wins on the season, but their season has been plagued with a lot of ups and downs. However, Shuman said that was to be expected.
“With as tough a schedule as we’ve played, some losses along the way were to be expected,” Shuman said. “I feel like the team has played pretty well throughout the year. The record may not at times look like we were playing that well, but I would put our schedule up against anybody’s as far as toughness goes.”
And Shuman knows that type of schedule will only prepare the Mustangs for what’s looming in the postseason.
“I think our record is a testament to these kids’ resilience,” Shuman said. “Last year was a tough year for us, and we lost some key players to injury. A lot of kids would have packed it up and moved somewhere else, or just given up, but these guys, they got right back to work and they wanted to be better.”
It’s those type of players who have gotten Shuman to where he is today, he said.
“There’s no way I could’ve gotten 200 wins without having great players,” Shuman said. “I couldn’t have done it without an administrator that backs me and supports me, and without having a wife at home that takes care of the stuff at home to allow me to dedicate the time it takes to being a coach. And I wouldn’t have been able to do it without assistant coaches that have really put their time and effort in and really put their hearts in with me.”
