Tommy Walker is returning to the baseball program he built into a statewide power.

The Baldwin County Board of Education officially approved the Hall of Famer as the new baseball coach at Spanish Fort on Thursday.

Walker replaces J.D. Pruitt, who left to become head coach at Coastal Alabama Community College after leading the Toros to the Class 6A championship series this spring.

“We are super excited to get Tommy back home,” Spanish Fort athletic director Chase Smith said. “He is not only a Hall of Fame coach with college experience, but he’s a guy who won three state titles here and built this program from the very beginning. He’s an unbelievable coach and a great man. We are blessed to have him back.”

Walker took over a new Spanish Fort program in 2005 and spent the next seven years building the Toros. He went 201-62 on the Hill and won three straight Class 5A state championships from 2010-2012. He currently has 588 career wins, including 401 on the high school level.

“Eighteen years ago, we started the program from scratch,” Walker told AL.com. “We didn’t have a ball, didn’t have a field, but it was a lot of fun. It’s the most fun thing I’ve done as a coach. It was a wonderful seven years. Coming back 11 years later, it’s surreal. I’m excited.”

Walker left Spanish Fort in 2012 to take over one of the state’s most recognized baseball programs at Vestavia Hills. He spent three years leading the Rebels from 2013-2015. He spent one year as head coach at Bayside Academy (2017-2018) and was head coach at his alma mater in Ocean Springs, Miss., last season.

“I was very happy at Ocean Springs,” Walker said. “I graduated from there in 1977. It was a different type of homecoming. We had great kids and great support, and I loved my time there. But to be able to come home, to work four minutes from where I live, it was just the right move at the right time for me and my family.”

Walker said his hope is that Spanish Fort will be the last stop of his coaching career.

“My plan is, when I finally retire, that this is it,” he said. “I’ve missed Spanish Fort a lot in so many ways since I’ve been gone. It’s just time to come back, and I’m so excited that this is where I will finish my career.”

Walker started his coaching career in 1982 and also has been head coach at Samford University as well as Homewood and Mountain Brook high schools. He won 187 games from 1989-1997 at Samford. He had two stints as an assistant coach under Tim Becker at McGill-Toolen.

He was inducted into the Alabama Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame in 2014 and the Spanish Fort and Baldwin County Halls of Fame in 2018.

Walker takes over a Spanish Fort team that went 29-19 in 2023 and lost to Oxford in the Class 6A state championship series. He went 18-14 this past season at Ocean Springs and reached the second round of the playoffs.

“I’ve been coaching a long time, and I think this is only the second job I’ve taken that I didn’t have to start or rebuild,” he said. “It is nice to come into a program that is expecting to win and do well. I think there are seven starters returning. Obviously, every time you lose a senior class, you lose some chemistry, but I’m excited about the challenge of keeping Spanish Fort where we are and even getting back to where we were with those championship teams.”

What exactly will that take? Walker has a definite plan.

“Really good players who trust in themselves and trust in their coaching staff,” he said. “And you have to have a dude on the mound. I was 50 when I won my first state championship. If I knew all the answers, I would have won one a lot sooner than that.

“You have to be playing well to win it. J.D.’s team got hot, played well and played fearless baseball. My goal is to continue that. It will take a while for the guys to get used to my style. There will need to be some adjustments from them and from myself I’m sure. I grow every place I’ve ever coached.”