Vidalia — Kale Davis was with the Vidalia High School baseball team as an assistant coach last season as the Vikings struggled through a season that Davis said did not meet their expectations.

This year Davis is taking over as head coach of the Vikings, and he said he hopes that this year’s team will be able to improve on last year’s performance.

“I’m not going to say we will jump mountains, but we definitely see some progress,” Davis said. “Our expectation level is high.”

Davis said he agreed to take the job after Tim Herndon stepped down after last season.

Davis said he has been involved with high school coaching in Ferriday and Vidalia for many years — mostly as a football coach. This season will be his fifth as a baseball coach and first as a head coach.

“I just want to grow as a coach, and I want the kids to grow,” he said. “And we want to see if we can help get the program to continue to go in the right direction.”

Davis will have 11 seniors on this year’s team to help ease the transition from assistant coach to head coach.

“We expect big things from those guys,” he said.

Another advantage Davis has on most first-year head coaches is that he has lived in the area all his life and he has already been in the Vidalia system for a season and knows the players’ strengths and weaknesses.

“Most of these guys I’ve known throughout the years, and we have a great relationship,” he said.

Davis said he thinks this year’s Vidalia team will have a good season, especially if the players put forth great effort.

“We preach to them that you get out of it what you put into it,” he said.

Despite this being his first go-round as a head baseball coach, Davis said the focus is not on him this season.

“I just want to let everything be about the kids,” he said.