Several times in the past few years, Wade Patrick had an opportunity to leave his assistant coaching job at Bayou Academy for a head coaching position somewhere else. Each time, he found a reason to say no.

When Porters Chapel Academy came calling, there were finally enough reasons to say yes.

Patrick, a Vicksburg native, has been hired as PCA’s head football and baseball coach. The 39-year-old Warren Central graduate had been an assistant in both sports at Bayou since 2006 and helped the Colts to a combined five championship appearances. They won two baseball titles.

This is his first head coaching job, although he’s also had stints as an assistant for the Arena Football League’s Georgia Force and at Hinds Community College.

“It was a tough sell to leave because Bayou treated me great. It’s almost bittersweet to leave a situation like that, but like the coach up there told me, you can’t keep turning people down because they’ll stop asking you,” Patrick said. “When the opportunity comes to be a head coach in two sports, close to family, at a good school where you have the backing of the parents and a great tradition, that’s tough to turn away from.”

PCA headmaster Doug Branning said he sought Patrick’s services after getting several recommendations from other coaches. The combination of experience, academic background and an ability to coach both football and baseball made Patrick the leading candidate. He has a degree in environmental management from LSU and will teach health and physical science at PCA.

PCA was dealt a one-two punch last month when baseball coach Jerry Bourne and football coach John Weaver left for other jobs within a week of each other. Bourne was hired as an assistant at Vicksburg High, and Weaver as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Madison-Ridgeland Academy.

“This is a good day for Porters Chapel. We’re as happy as we can be and relieved that the process is complete. We’re thrilled with who we got,” Branning said.

Although he didn’t meet his new players until Wednesday night, Patrick said he is familiar with PCA’s progams. Besides keeping up with them as a casual fan of Warren County sports, he’s also encountered them on the field. PCA beat his Bayou baseball team for the 2009 MAIS Class A championship.

That was one of three state titles the Eagles have won since 2003. They’ve also made 13 consecutive playoff appearances in baseball and last season missed the football playoffs for the first time since 2003.

Patrick said trying to keep that tradition going was both a selling point of the job and a challenge.

“Just that attraction of knowing they do have that tradition, it makes it one of those jobs you want to take a long, hard look at,” Patrick said. “I don’t look at it as pressure. I look at it as an opportunity to keep the tradition going. Some people think that way, but I think tradition follows itself. The kids want to live up to that standard.”

Patrick will have some other challenges, too. Although athletic director Bill Fleming oversaw the football team’s weightlifting program, the absence of a head coach kept PCA from participating in 7-on-7 drills in June.

Patrick’s first glimpse of his team in a football setting will come in a couple of weeks when they get together for informal workouts. Two-a-day practices begin on July 25.

“It’s going to be a quick evaluation period. I’ve got a lot of tape to go through,” Patrick said with a laugh. “You’ve got to see what your personnel is and adjust your system to it. It’s not going to work the same all the time. That’s what we’re going to do.”