The Wallace Govs are once again welcoming one of its former players home. David Dews has been named the new head coach of the Wallace Lady Govs softball program. Just like his predecessor David Russo, Dews is a former baseball player at Wallace. He is also the son of retired former Wallace softball coach Gene Dews.

"I am so happy to be back at Wallace and in the Wiregrass," David Dews said. "This where it all began for me and now it seems like everything just fell in place at the right time. I was very happy where I was, but there is just something about coming home and being close to parents and a lot of people that I have known most of my life. Plus, Wallace is just a great place to be. This is where my heart is. I couldn't be happier."

Although Dews already had strong ties to Wallace College, he has had plenty of success on his own. His coaching career began at LBW Community College in Andalusia. From there, his career took off. He coached at Darton State College for six years, compiling a record of 231-79 and became the school's all-time winningest coach. Darton State competed in the NJCAA where Coach Dews had two World Series appearances. Darton has since merged with Albany State in the NAIA.

Dews left Darton after a successful coaching stint, landing at Lindsey Wilson College in Colombia, Kentucky -- which is also an NAIA school. There he compiled and impressive record of 344-83, making three World Series appearances and earning a trip to the NAIA playoffs seven times. He was also the school's winningest coach with three conference championships and six regional appearances.

Dews comes to Wallace from Reinhardt College. In his only year there, he had a combined record of 37-13 and a conference record of 26-2.  He has an overall winning percentage of over .700.

"We are very fortunate to land a coach of David's caliber," Wallace athletic director Dr. Ryan Spry said. "He has had success everywhere he's been, and will be an asset not only for our softball program, but for Wallace Community College and the community we serve as well."

Spry continued, "Once again this shows that you can start your academic career as a student at Wallace and then go on to achieve success in whatever you field you choose."

Dews agreed. "I got my start here at Wallace as a player. I learned a lot here before moving on to Auburn University and later AUM. But everything for me began at Wallace. There is something special about coming back to where it all started."

As for his immediate plans at Wallace, Dews said the first step is getting to know all of the current players.

"I'm going to come in and evaluate what we have and what we need and then put in our system. I'm always going to go after the best players in the area. I want every one of them to thing Wallace if they want to play softball.

"My number one goal is to recruit the best players in the Wiregrass. It's going to be a little bit crazy at first until we get organized. But I am planning on bringing Wallace a championship caliber program. So I want the Wiregrass to get behind us and support us."