Ferriday — It must be a Hoffpauir thing.

After playing baseball in youth leagues, high school, college, minor league and Major League Baseball, Jarrett Hoffpauir became the third person in his immediate family to accept a head coaching position. He started coaching Delta Charter’s baseball team Monday.

“I guess it’s in the blood,” Jarrett said. “It’s one of those things you’re around your whole life, and you grow to have a passion and love for the game.”

Luckily for Jarrett, he’ll have plenty of resources. His brother, Josh Hoffpauir, is in his fourth year as head coach of Pearl River Community College, while his father, Johnny Lee Hoffpauir, was the head coach at Vidalia High School from 1979 to 2010 and is currently the Vidalia Parks and Recreation Director.

Even better for Jarrett, he’s in the same situation as his father in 1979.

“I revised a program that ended in the 1950s and started it back up 20 years later, so yeah, I got to start a program,” Johnny Lee said. “I told him there are a lot of challenges early.”

Jarrett is embracing the challenges, and he isn’t hesitating to accept guidance from a family that’s been there and done that.

“I’ve reached out to both of them numerous times,” Jarrett said. “Dad did it at the high school level, and he knows exactly what I’m going through now. He went through the same scenario. He’ll be getting a lot of phone calls from me, that’s for sure.”

When Johnny Lee first initially heard that his son was interested in the Delta Charter head coaching job, it took him by surprise. Johnny Lee never doubted his eldest son Josh would be a coach, but he was never as confident that Jarrett would follow in his footsteps.

“I knew from the beginning Josh was going to be a coach,” Johnny Lee said. “Me and Coach (Dee) Faircloth would sit around and laugh about it. When Josh was six years old, he would go down and help Faircloth break down film. Now with Jarrett, we had no idea.”

Johnny Lee’s wife and Jarrett’s mother, Pam, knew both of her sons would eventually become coaches. Pam knew the countless hours of being around baseball would ultimately lead to coaching jobs down the road.

“Unlike Johnny, it did not surprise me to see Jarrett become a coach in the least,” Pam said. “With Johnny being a coach, we went to the field everyday, whether it was football or baseball, to watch him. My poor boys didn’t have a chance of becoming anything but a coach.”

Josh was happy to see his brother join the family profession.

“Unfortunately, we blame dad,” Josh said.

Johnny Lee was quick to include his wife in the overall impact sports has made in the lives of his children.

“Those boys were raised around both their mother, who was an athlete, and me, who was coaching” Johnny Lee said. “They’ve been at sporting events when they were two weeks old. Pam played a softball game for Ferriday Auto Parts on a tournament team when she was pregnant with Josh.”

At the end of the day, Jarrett couldn’t stay away from the game. After retiring from Minor League Baseball in 2012, Jarrett accepted a position as a sale representative with Cisco Food Services.

“After I decided to retire, I kind of wanted to give it a break,” Jarrett said. “I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do. The longer I was away from it, the more I had that itch to get back into it.”

He nearly missed his opportunity. When the position first opened up, Delta Charter reached out to Jarrett, but Jarrett was unable to make a commitment because he had not decided on whether he would play another year in the minors or not. Delta Charter filled the position, Jarrett chose to hang up his cleats and he accepted another job. After frequent contact amongst his brother and father Jarrett began to miss the diamond.

“When you’ve done something all of your life, it’s hard to let go,” Johnny Lee said.

Along with coaching Delta State, Jarrett will teach kindergarten and younger physical education classes. Johnny Lee couldn’t wait to joke with his son about teaching small children.

“That’s the funny thing,” said Johnny Lee, laughing. “If he can handle those Kindergarten classes, he can handle anything in coaching. He’s going to rely on me and Josh, but I promise, he’s going to rely on his mother, who’s taught preschool for years, a heck of a lot more.”

Josh’s best piece of advice to offer his younger brother is not to be afraid of being the bad guy. He knows Jarrett will have to make crucial decisions while starting a program.

“Jarrett is an intelligent guy,” Josh said. “He’s in a situation where he can grow as a coach. He has to establish himself as a young coach early, and they seem to be athletically driven, which will help him.”

Jarrett plans on combining the knowledge he’s gained at every level he’s played on in an attempt to incorporate years of experience to show his team how to handle themselves on and off the field. He wants to show his team how to play baseball the right way.

“The kids seem to love baseball,” Jarrett said. “The parents are excited, the kids are excited, and that’s a recipe for success.”

For Johnny Lee, he has the perfect vision. As the Parks and Recreation Director, he would like nothing more than to host Delta Charter and Pearl River games at the complex on the same day.

“That would be great,” Johnny Lee said. “Believe me, that has crossed my mind. To have both of them coaching here with their programs on the same day would be unbelievable.”