Alan Dukes is currently a special education teacher and coaching men’s junior varsity and varsity basketball and baseball at Pickens High School in Jasper, Georgia.  He has had the privilege of helping many of his former high school football, basketball, and baseball players, over the last 23 years, reach their goal of playing ball at the NCAA Div.I, II, III, NAIA, and Junior College level.

Prior to PHS he was the Athletic Director and men’s varsity basketball coach at Fellowship Christian School in Roswell, Ga., where was hired to build the schools’ athletic program.  Within three years his athletic program had grown from one of the smallest in the state to one of the largest and most well respected.  He also accomplished one of his own personal goals within two short years, taking his men’s teams to the AA state final four in 2003 and the AAA state finals in 2005.

His previous 11 years from 1988-99 were spent at Shiloh Hills Christian School in Kennesaw, Ga. where he coached men’s varsity soccer, football, basketball, and baseball in the GCAA. During this time Coach Dukes’ teams were quite successful, including 5 region baseball championships in six years, 9 state championships in four different sports, and one NACA men’s basketball National Championship runner-up in 1999.  He also helped local young men develop their fundamental baseball skills every summer by conducting his camp known as “Fielder’s Choice.” 

Prior to SHCS Coach Dukes spent the previous five years teaching and coaching basketball and baseball at Kendall Acres Academy (Miami, Fla.), Central Fellowship Christian Academy (Macon, Ga.), Athens Christian Academy (Athens, Ga.), and Florida Christian School (Miami, Fla.).

After marriage in 1982, Alan and wife, Trina, decided to move back to Chattanooga, Tennessee for him to accept a coaching position with his former college team at Tennessee Temple University.  There he joined head coach John Zeller and assistant coach Kevin Malone (future General Manager of the LA Dodgers).

He attended Halls High School in Knoxville, Tennessee and Hammond Baptist High School in Schereville, Indiana, where he was a four sport all-conference athlete.  After receiving scholarship offers in three sports, he chose to accept a baseball scholarship from Head Coach Al Worthington at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.  As a freshman, he shared the starting catching responsibilities and hit a respectable .310.

He transferred to TTU in Chattanooga and finished his B.S.degree and college baseball career as an outfielder where, as a senior, he was one of the top hitters at .386, base stealers, on base percentage leaders, fielding percentage leaders, and lead his team in homeruns.  He was invited to play center field with the Chattanooga Royals, an affiliate of the Kansas City organization, after his senior year to be considered for the ’81 pro draft.  After sustaining several injuries with the Royals and not being placed in the draft, he decided to pursue his future wife, Trina, and a teaching/coaching career in Miami, Florida. 

Coach Dukes also has a heart for overseas mission fields. He has been involved with an organization called SCORE INTERNATIONAL since its beginning in 1985.  This is a sports mission’s organization which recruits USA basketball, baseball, soccer, and volleyball players to compete, at all levels internationally, while sharing the love of Jesus Christ with their players, fans, and local community.  He has been to Mexico, The Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, and Argentina with four different teams and has had the privilege of helping foreign missionaries lead hundreds of their own men, women, and children to Jesus Christ!

Coach Dukes received a Master’s degree in 1996 from Georgia State University in Educational Administration and plans to pursue his EDS degree in curriculum.  In addition to his wonderful wife Trina, of 24 years, he has two lovely daughters, Marissa 18 and Meghan 17.

His interest in joining STaF Athletics is, not only, to help teach young men how to be the very best baseball players that they can become, but even more important, how to be the very best men that God wants them to become!  Coach Dukes says, “It all comes down to who you love the most…yourself or our Heavenly Father!  We must learn what it means to really love Him buy consistently studying His Word, talking with Him daily, and learning to LIVE what we Say we Believe, as the book of James teaches us. Then we can know His true purpose for us here on earth, learn to love others more than we love ourselves, and be well-prepared for whatever trials or blessings we experience in life!”