Family matters: Father-son coaches square off as Nazareth, Ira battle for state baseball berth

Tyler and Toby Goodwin have talked about this game, and this series, for more than a year, before Tyler even officially became a head coach.

In the spring of 2021, Tyler Goodwin was hired as the next head baseball coach at Nazareth, taking over for the soon-to-be-departed Steven Moore. The Swifts were on their way to Round Rock, the school's first-ever appearance in the state baseball tournament. Tyler and his dad, Toby, the head coach at Ira, decided to make the trip together as spectators.

Watching from the stands at Dell Diamond in Round Rock, Goodwin father and son watched Nazareth make history, falling in the Class 1A state semifinals. Toby turned to his son and said, "One of us is going to be here next year."

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The path Toby Goodwin envisioned has come to fruition. His Ira Bulldogs will square off with Tyler's Nazareth Swifts in the Region I-1A championship series starting on Friday at Lubbock-Cooper in Woodrow, Texas.

The end result will be historic either way, with Ira making its first state tournament ever or Nazareth returning for a second year in a row.

Both teams enter the region final with zeroes in the loss column.

Ira is ranked No. 1 in the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association's poll. Nazareth is No. 2. Both teams will throw their aces — Trent Gerber for Nazareth (10-0 with a 0.23 ERA and 130 strikeouts) and Jerek Pena for Ira (7-0 with a 0.00 ERA and 92 strikeouts) — in Friday's opener.

One way or another, both Tyler and Toby Goodwin will be back in Round Rock, but only one of them will be going as a head coach.

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"I think that our family members are the ones that are taking this harder than me and dad are," Tyler said. "I told dad the other day that it's just me and you. Let's just coach and play the game. Do what we've done all year and let everybody else worry about all the in-betweens."

As easy as that is to say, the Goodwins know this is much more than just a game. Toby said he had a tear rolling down his face when discussing the matchup in a phone interview on Monday. This means a lot to the family.

"I told my wife the other day, 'Shoot, this is movie material,'" Toby said. "It's unbelievable."

Had Tyler followed his original life plan, this matchup wouldn't have been possible.

After a stellar career playing for his dad — who started coaching at Ira when his oldest son was 2 — Tyler had the option to pitch collegiately at Sul Ross State. He decided against it, instead going to Texas Tech to earn a degree in ranch management.

About halfway through the program, he knew he had made a miscalculation. Tyler wanted to coach, was destined to become one, and desired to start on that career path. Like any college kid making a big life decision, he called his mom.

"She said, 'Well, you're too far into it not to not finish,'" Tyler recalled. "'We're going to finish it and then you can get into an alternative certification.'"

So that's what Tyler did. He earned his degree and was hired as an assistant football, basketball and track coach at Littlefield while he earned his certification.

Baseball was not part of his responsibilities with the Wildcats, but the opportunity to get back into the sport presented itself when he was hired at Nazareth.

Taking over as the head coach of the Swifts was the first time Tyler, 26, had been around baseball since he was in high school himself. He likened it to riding a bike he hadn't been on in five years. He knew what he was doing, but there was a bit of an adjustment from being a player and being a coach.

It didn't hurt he'd be taking over a team fresh off a state tournament appearance with a roster of talented players returning in 2022.

"That helped, obviously, coming into a group of guys that already know the basics of the game and you're not having to start from scratch zero," Tyler said, "and being able to jump in with this group my first year has been a blessing."

Toby always hoped at least one of his kids would get into coaching. The idea was for them to join him at Ira and eventually succeed him. The thought of coaching against one of them, with so much on the line, hadn't crossed his mind until last year.

"Our dreams are to coach together," Toby said, "but I'm proud of him and I'm glad the opportunity's there. I'm glad he put himself in that situation to be there. All their hard work coming through. He's done a good job and very well deserved.

"But to dream of this? No."

Father and son have spoken frequently throughout the year about this very matchup. They knew it was a possibility, but you can never be sure until it's official. When Ira and Nazareth took care of business in the region semifinals, reality set in.

"What a cool feeling that was," Tyler said. "To be able to actually go compete against him and at this level, to finally say one of us is going to be able to make it to the big dance. ... that's a lot more than just a game.

"That's kind of the way that I've been putting this out to people. This is way more than just a game. Baseball is a great game and then you add this story on top of it, it's going to be pretty special."

The Goodwins are each making their pitches for family support during the three-game series. Toby has history on his side as each of his four kids graduated from and have lived in the Ira area most of their lives.

Tyler's making efforts as well, keeping his brothers on speed dial, asking them to wear the Nazareth blue and yellow instead of the Ira orange and black.

"When it's all said and done," Toby said, "it's going to be a great ending for everybody in the family."

HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL PLAYOFFS

REGION I-1A FINALS

Nazareth (18-0) vs. Ira (21-0-1)

All games at Lubbock-Cooper

Game 1: Friday, 7 p.m.

Game 2: Saturday, 5 p.m.

*Game 3: 30 minutes after Game 2

Coverage: Follow @NathanGiese on Twitter for in-game updates, interviews, photos and stories on lubbockonline.com and amarillo.com. 

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas UIL baseball playoffs: Nazareth and Ira battle for state berth