Brent Payne is in his first season as an assistant in 2022 and will coach the infielders while helping with game management strategies. Payne will also be the first base coach.
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An Oklahoma Coaches Association's 2022 Hall of Fame inductee, Payne coached baseball for 28 years, winning 649 games and two state championships. In 2014, he was named the National Baseball Coach of the Year by the National?High School Athletic Coaches Association. Payne, who was inducted into the Oklahoma Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2006, led four different schools (Berryhill, Haskell, Oologah and Claremore) to a state championship game, winning it all in 1996 (Haskell) and 2005 (Oologah).
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In addition to baseball, his coaching experience includes 24 years as a football assistant, five as a girls head basketball coach and two each as head coach in softball and girls track. He was also the first softball coach ever hired at Claremore High School. Payne’s coaching career had stops at Berryhill (1981-82), Claremore (1983-84, 2009-15), Webster (1989-90), Haskell (1991-2000), and Oologah (2001-06).
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A multi-time regional and state coach of the year, Payne retired from coaching in 2015, and from his post as Claremore Athletic Director in 2017, the same year he was honored as the state athletic director of the year by the Oklahoma Coaches Association.
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Payne graduated from Sperry High School in 1976, where he was an all-state running back.
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