“Just a hometown boy born a rolling stone…Who says you can’t go home?”
The lyrics from the Bon Jovi song in 1990 seem appropriate for Kevin Wilkett, who after graduating from Stigler in 2001, journeyed away from the Haskell County town only to come back to his roots in 2010 as head baseball coach for the Panthers.
“I played college baseball at Carl Albert State College followed by two seasons at East Central University and graduated in 2005 before beginning my coaching career at Wilburton where our team made the state tournament in 2009,” said Kevin. “It was a tough decision but I wanted to make a difference in my home town and bring baseball back to a winning program.”
Now in his 14th season as head coach, Wilkett’s influence has Stigler baseball on track seeking another state tournament appearance just as they did in 2016 and owning a 259-165 career win-loss record entering the 2023 campaign.
Body Script“My approach is simple-be competitive, loyal and tough,” said Wilkett. “Tough is the most important to me because like the old saying goes tough times don’t last-tough people do.”
The coach admits there are pros and cons to teaching and coaching in your hometown.
“I put pressure on myself to put everything I can into coaching because I want people to be proud of the product we put on the field,” said Wilkett, who is also the offensive coordinator for the Panthers football team. “I take pride in trying to make the two programs I’m involved in successful as well as the students in my classroom.”
In addition to his “family”of players, Wilkett will always smile when asked about his own family.
“My family is everything to me. I love doing what I do but luckily my wife (Nichol) has never said a negative thing when we have a long week and then a tournament at the end of the week and then I reschedule a make-up game on her birthday (March 7th). She knows I enjoy what I do and she knew going in that I wanted to be a coach,” he said in appreciation. “A lot of times right now she is chasing my two boys (Dalton and Dayne) around getting them to their games, so spring is hectic around our house but we don’t know any other way. My family is always around the team and the guys on the team always make my kids feel special.”
Without question, the players and fans believe the Stigler baseball coach is special and proud that Kevin Wilkett came home to make a positive difference in Stigler.
