Raiders' Key resigns

By By Austin Bishop / EMG Regional Sports Director
May 3, 2002
After spending the last 18 years teaching other people's kids the finer points of baseball, Ronnie Key will now have more time to teach his own boys about the game he loves.
Key, who has been the head baseball coach at Lamar School in Meridian for the past 10 years, told his players Thursday that he would not be coaching them next season.
The former Northeast Mississippi Community College head coach, will remain at the school in the position of counselor, a job he has had for the past two years.
The Keys have two children, Easton (10) and Casey (7).
Lamar head of school Termie Land said Key approached him last week about possibly resigning his position as head baseball coach.
Key, 40, is a graduate of Northeast Mississippi Community College and Mississippi State University.
After coaching seven seasons at NEMCC, Key took the head coaching job at Montreat-Anderson College, a four-year school in North Carolina. After one year there, the Keys moved to Meridian where he took over the program at Lamar.
He has a 305-249 overall record, including a 148-103 record at Lamar. Twice his teams played for MPSA South State championships.
In addition to his work as counselor at Lamar, Key said he is looking into another business venture that has always intrigued him.
Land said that a coaching search was under way and that the new coach could be named as early as next week.