There is a famous phrase that “behind every great man is an even greater woman.” Well, the state championship-winning Troup High baseball team has an entire roster of “greater women.” Seven women, Elizabeth Barber, Karen Barber, Whitney Glisson, Harleigh Mize, Shafaine Mosley, Aubryn Shivers and Katlyn Yeatman, put in countless hours towards Troup High baseball that largely go unnoticed. As coaches’ wives, these seven serve as coaching psychologists, the biggest support section in the stands, fundraising, and so much more to help make moments like the Tigers’ state championship victory on May 21 possible. 

This group of ladies is far from just a collection of individuals. The group has formed a family bond over the last few years.

“I don’t look at them as coaches’ wives, I look at them as family,” Karen said. “Everybody feels comfortable around here, and it really started when [Tanner Glisson] took over.”

May 21 served as the culmination of a lifetime’s worth of work for the entire coaching staff. To witness their husbands achieve such a lofty goal firsthand made all those late nights where their husband comes home from practice, showers and then goes right to sleep worth it.

“This is what they have been working for their whole lives, whether they have been coaching for five years or 25 years, to see them achieve what they have achieved makes me emotional,” Glisson said. 

Being a coach’s wife is far from easy. Their husbands coming straight from practice and going to sleep shortly thereafter is no overstatement. There are times during the season when the best chance to see their husbands awake is stopping by the practice field in the evenings.

“Luckily, I work with Charles at the hospital, so we see each other at work,” Mosley said. “Otherwise, it’s very early in the morning or very late at night.”

“Dinner is often at 8:30 or 9 at night,” Shivers added. 

There is also no spring break, as the baseball team plays games and practices while others get to go off and enjoy a break. Often, even vacations are centered around sports, including the Yeatmans’ trip to Florida this summer, which is because of travel ball, not that Katlyn is complaining, as she is looking forward to a trip to the beach. 

While the AAA State Championship was the pinnacle of each member of the staff’s coaching careers, being a coach is far from all sunshine and roses. There are difficult losses, times of uncertainty and even occasionally, self-doubt. Through it all, their wives have been a constant source of balance in life. 

“When there was a transition, new coaches were brought in and he kind of felt like he was being pushed aside,” Karen said. “To see him struggle with his worth as a coach was probably one of the hardest things to see. Especially because of how much he loves these kids.”

“I’ll piggyback off that and say that Patrick was not renewed at Valley (High School) about five years ago, and that was a real low for him and it was tough to see him go through that,” Shivers added. “We were so blessed to find Troup not long after that, and we love being Troup Tigers.”

Watching their husbands win a state championship was special, but to see them impact young people beyond the lines on the baseball field is what it truly is all about. 

“I work in the school system, so I will have parents come up to me and tell me the impact that Brock has had on their kids,” Elizabeth said. “He also will get phone calls from kids that he coaches that are no longer in school.”

Karen pointed to Luke Bailey and current Seattle Mariner Ryan Bliss as examples of former players who still stay in contact with her husband, Richie, and are “just a phone call away.”

For some of these women, they will be “getting their husbands back,” but for others, the coaching grind does not stop. 

“It can be really hard around the holidays because Russell does wrestling, football and baseball, and he doesn’t really get a break between,” Yeatman said. “It’s all gone from the beginning of the school year, and then when baseball comes around, it’s just like, just slow down for a little bit, especially around the holidays, when you want your family to be together.”

The Yeatmans are not alone. The Mosleys jump straight into travel ball, and the Glissons are heading towards the high school football season. 

“At least with baseball, I can talk to him through the fence,” Glisson said. “At football, it feels like he’s a world away at times.”

Mize and her fiancé, Will Peirce, are taking over the Long Cane softball program.

Mize is still new to the ranks of being a coach’s wife; last year was Peirce’s first year as a coach.

“It was definitely an adjustment on my end,” Mize said. “I knew this is what he wanted to do, and I’ll always support him in whatever he does, but I didn’t realize how busy it was going to be. Slowly but surely, we have been finding the right balances. It’s been fun.”

You can take their husbands off the ball field (temporarily), but you can’t take the coach out of them. Whether it is coaching up their children, game planning, or talking about what they have all achieved together.  

“There in that group chat more than ever,” Yeatman said, rolling her eyes. 

“[Tanner Glisson] texted the group chat the other day at like six in the morning, ‘we are state champions, you know that right?’” Elizabeth said as the seven women shared a hearty laugh. 

The fun for the whole program has continued into June. 

“I literally had to change my notification for when I would send Richie a message because he kept thinking it was the other coaches,” Karen said.