After 37 seasons, 760 wins and two state championships, Oakland baseball coach Mack Hawks is hanging up his cleats.

Hawks announced his retirement on May 1, a day after the Patriots ended their 2026 season with a 12-3 loss to Rockvale in the District 10-4A tournament. He's the winningest coach in Rutherford County history,

It wasn't a rushed decision. Although not widely known, Hawks had decided in February this would be his final season.

"I had planned it," Hawks said. "It's something I had been thinking about the last couple of years. I just felt like it was my time, and I talked to (Oakland principal John Marshall) back in the first part of February and made the decision back then, win or lose. It's not something I decided over the last couple of weeks or season."

The 66-year-old Hawks, a Tennessee Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer, took over as head coach at Oakland in 1990 after George Hockenberry stepped down to focus solely on coaching girls basketball.

A 1977 Friendship Christian graduate, where he played baseball before playing at Cumberland, Hawks started teaching at Oakland and coaching football in 1987. He had previously coached football at Hendersonville and football and wrestling at Lebanon.

During his 37 years at Oakland he led the Patriots to five state tournament appearances, including the 1999 and 2000 Class AAA state championships. His 2007 team entered the sectional 42-1 before being upset by Cleveland (2-1).

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Hawks earned his 700th win in April 2022. He was among the top 10 active coaches (Lausanne's Buster Kelso, CAK's Tommy Pharr and Friendship Christian's John McNeal, Greenfield's Johnny Growe, Columbia Academy's Richie Estep) and among the top 15 all time in Tennessee in victories.

"I've been very blessed," Hawks said. "I've had good players, of course, and very good assistant coaches who were a lot of fun to work with. I've also had very good administrators. All of that goes into the whole body of work for this program. We've been able to win a lot.

Oakland won 12 district championships and seven region titles during Hawks' tenure.

Hawks, who is also retiring from teaching after 39 years in Rutherford County and 44 overall, said he was going to spend more time seeing his two sons and grandchildren. His youngest son, Will, is in the Washington Nationals organization as a minor league pitching coordinator and his oldest son, Ryan, is a lawyer in Birmingham.

"I may travel a little bit," Hawks said. "I'll probably play a lot of golf. I love golf."

You could hear some emotion in Hawks' voice when talking about his career. When asked if he thought his career would span this long − or be this successful − he answered quickly and emphatically.

"No way," Hawks said. "If you would have told me I would be a head coach for 37 years, I wouldn't have believed you. I just never envisioned it this long. If you would have told me (about winning state championships), I wouldn't have believed you either. Some good coaches coach all their life and never get that.

"I've been really blessed to be able to do it this long. I just decided in February that this was it, win or lose. It's best for me right now and also best for the program right now."

Cecil Joyce covers high school sports and MTSU athletics for The Daily News Journal. Contact him at cjoyce@dnj.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @Cecil_Joyce.

This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: Oakland baseball coach Mack Hawks retires after 760 wins