By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Adam Gunn’s connection to Alamance County’s baseball scene has several chapters even though he grew up in nearby Guilford County.
Now he has a much-coveted role with a new high school.
Gunn is the first baseball coach at Southeast Alamance. And he really needs no introduction around here.
“I did play most of my baseball over in Alamance County,” Gunn said. “Played travel ball growing up with those guys.”
Gunn, 29, is a 2012 Eastern Guilford graduate who spent three seasons playing American Legion baseball with Burlington-Graham Post 63.
More recently, Gunn worked seven years as a coach at Southern Guilford with one year as junior varsity coach and six directing the varsity.
The opening at Southeast caught his attention.
“You get to do it from the ground up,” Gunn said. “You get to put your stamp on things. I just thought this was a good opportunity. It was the right time.”
During this first four years as Southern Guilford’s varsity coach, the Storm was in the Mid-Piedmont Conference that included Southern Alamance and Williams. This year’s 11-12 record was the best mark for Southern Guilford under Gunn.
After graduating from Eastern Guilford, Gunn played baseball for two seasons at Rockingham Community College and two seasons at Methodist.
His mother, Tina Gunn, was a longtime girls’ basketball coach in the region. She led teams at Eastern Guilford, Greensboro Grimsley, and Southern Guilford. She recently retired after teaching math at Alamance-Burlington Early College.
Adam Gunn, who also played basketball at Eastern Guilford, enters an exciting time at the new school.
“That’s a hotbed for baseball and that was really one of the main attractions to this job,” he said. “In that part of the county, you’re going to have community support.”
While the baseball field is new at Southeast, projects such as building dugouts and a batting cage will be on the to-do list.
Gunn said he expects transfers from Eastern Alamance and Southern Alamance based on redistricting to take some roster spots, but he said freshmen might provide the bulk of the first team’s makeup in 2024.
“We’ve got some young talent,” he said. “We’re going to have to learn on the fly.”
A Southeast team played in several Colt League level games since the end of the past school year and Gunn said that served as a good introduction. Gunn also is a coach of the Greensboro Colt All-Stars.
The Stallions will be in the Mid-Carolina Conference that includes Cummings and Graham. Gunn said Southeast will play one non-conference game against Eastern Alamance, Southern Alamance, Western Alamance, and Williams.
Gunn will teach exceptional children in the upcoming school year with the expectation that he’ll move to a physical education teaching role when enrollment increases. He was a physical education teacher at Southern Guilford.
Read about other Southeast coaches:
Basketball: Bo Williamson https://alamancenews.com/bo-williamson-sees-special-opportunity-as-first-southeast-basketball-coach/
Girls’ Basketball: Amy Surratt https://alamancenews.com/surratt-leaves-southern-patriots-to-become-first-southeast-girls-coach/
Football: Tony Aguilar https://alamancenews.com/for-first-southeast-alamance-football-coach-its-a-return-to-alamance-county-roots/
Softball: Tiffany Helton https://alamancenews.com/southeast-gets-first-softball-coach-tiffany-helton/
Athletic Director: B.J. Condron https://alamancenews.com/former-hawfields-teacher-coach-to-be-first-a-d-for-southeast-alamance/
