By JOSH EZZELL

Riverdale is a school that's known for excellent coaching. All one has to do is look at the leaders the school has produced.

Gary Rankin, Rickey Field, Ali Arman, Micheal Burt, Ron Aydelott, Buddy Powers and Brandon Burks are a few coaches who have succeeded on Warrior Drive. That list of names oozes with state titles, college scholarships and a pro football player in Fernando Bryant, who was a first-round draft pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars. I could spend all day discussing the excellent coaches Principal Tom Nolan's had at Riverdale.

One name that needs to be added to the list of Riverdale greats is softball coach Jeff Breeden, who recently picked up his 500th career win — he's 510-143-1 — as a head coach and was honored prior to the Warriors' 9-0 win over Coffee County last Wednesday night. It was a great night for Breeden, who coached at Coffee County High School for 13 years before heading to Murfreesboro. During his tenure in Manchester he appeared in two state tournaments, finishing third and fourth, respectively.

"He means a lot to a lot of people," said Dennis Weaver, an assistant coach on the Riverdale softball team.

During the ceremony former players and assistants paid homage to him. It was indeed a special night for Breeden, who doesn't seek recognition and is instead focused on fielding a quality softball team.

"It was real fun," Breeden said. "There were a lot of girls I hadn't seen in a long time. I've had some great players and assistants."

It's safe to see he's succeeded in fielding a quality product. He's won 10 district and five regional titles. Last season Riverdale fell to eventual champion Soddy-Daisy in the sectional round, but my gut feeling is the Lady Warriors have an excellent shot at competing in Spring Fling this season. With Cat Hosfield on the mound and timely hitting like the Lady Warriors got against Siegel anything's possible.

Breeden's certainly impacted a lot of lives. He's coached 46 players who signed scholarships to play college softball — that's 2.9 players per season and equals $1.2 million in scholarship money. This season he has one of the nation's best in Hosfield, who's committed to the University of Tennessee.

"The whole thing is we want to turn out good citizens," Breeden said. "We want them to have options. We hope they leave us with life lessons."

Coffee County and Riverdale have been lucky enough to turn out a good softball coach.