After 24 years of coaching at Cedartown High School, Doyle Kelley decided it was time for a change.

So that is why earlier this month Kelley, who had been the head baseball coach for 17 years at Cedartown, informed Principal Hal David and his team that he was stepping down as head coach of the Bulldogs baseball program.

“It’s what I needed,” Kelley said. “I talked with my family about it and I prayed about it and I just felt it was right to step down.”

While Kelley is leaving the Cedartown coaching world, he isn’t leaving coaching altogether. Kelley will be traveling across the county to coach at Rockmart High School, beginning next fall.

“I will be an assistant baseball coach and an assistant football coach,” Kelley said. “I met with (Dan) Duff and I came away feeling real positive. He is a great man and a good Christian man and at this point in my life that is important to me.”

Kelley – who won one region title and three sub-region titles as the taskmaster of the Bulldogs baseball program – said he informed Mr. David on June 1 and spoke with the team around June 8 about his decision to step down.

“I’m 48 years old and I’ve been teaching for 24 years so I figured if I was going to make a change then now was the time,” Kelley said. “I love Cedartown. I can’t say anything bad about Cedartown. I will miss working with all the Cedartown coaches that I’ve worked with but I feel like it’s time for a new phase in my life and I feel this is the way to go.”

Kelley said he will still be teaching health at Cedartown High, just now he will be traveling across the county to wear the gold and black as a coach instead of the red and black he had became so accustomed to wearing.

“I’ve had a great run,” Kelley said. “I’ve had several opportunities in the past to leave but it never felt right. However, this feels right. I’ve got six years left to coach and teach and I’m just going to enjoy it.”