After seven seasons in charge, Jason Chatham steps down as Napa High baseball coach, Dustin Green to take over

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Eric Thompson (Shamboozled.com)

Kfost91197@gmail.com

Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews

After seven years in charge, Jason Chatham has stepped down as the head coach of the baseball program at Napa High. 

The move comes after he took a higher role within the district, and his teaching job makes it harder for him to coach baseball. 

Chatham took over the program in 2018 after Todd Pridy retired. In his time in charge, the Grizzlies went 42-91 with a 14-59 mark in Vine Valley Athletic League play. Unfortunately, Napa never made it to the VVAL or North Coast Section playoffs in his tenure. 

The best team in Chatham’s time was the 2020 team, who started the year 4-1 before COVID ended high school sports in March for the rest of the season. That team didn’t play a league season. 

Another accomplishment Chatham had was the fact that his teams always played the local teams extremely tough. In his first season at the helm, Napa’s only two wins came on the road against Justin-Siena and Vintage. In his time, Napa also won four straight Big Games at Vintage in the first four seasons Chatham was there. On top of that, they split with Justin-Siena 4 times in 5 seasons with the win being on the road in three of those. 

“Coach Jason Chatham has had an amazing influence within the Napa High School baseball program,” Athletic Director Darci Ward said.  “As a veteran coach and teacher, he comes from a long line of baseball tradition and teaches all aspects of the game. He is huge on building a positive culture and with hard work and consistency, he instilled that within his players and the program overall.  We are thankful for his leadership in developing our youth to be better baseball players and young men.”

Overall, Chatham has been at Napa High for 9 years as a teacher. He was also the pitching coach in the final two years of the Pridy era.  

The good news is that the program will be in good hands. Taking over will be Dustin Green, who is a PE teacher on campus. 

“I can’t even put into words what Jason Chatham has done for this school, this baseball program, and for my personal development as a coach and an educator,” Green explained of the impact Chatham has had on him. “I have truly learned so much from the guy, both on and off the baseball field. He cares deeply about Napa high baseball and all the people who help keep this ship sailing. Rodriguez High School didn’t name their varsity baseball field after him for nothing – the man is a legend and he leaves a lasting impact everywhere he goes. Todd Pridy was at the helm when I first joined the Napa High Baseball coaching staff, then Jason Chatham took over soon after, and it is no secret that these are some big, legendary shoes to fill. Simply put – it is incredibly humbling and a true honor.”

Green has also served as the head JV coach and even as the interim head coach in 2024 when Chatham wasn’t able to be there all the time due to family matters.

“Jason will be greatly missed as a coach, but we are excited to welcome Dustin Green to the head coaching role,” Ward continued. “Jason and Dustin worked together for several years and we know that Coach Green will continue many of the positive aspects of Coach Chatham’s legacy.”

Green has also been on and off the varsity staff for the last few seasons. He’s filled in where needed in the program, which makes him the perfect person to take over as the manager. 

“For the past decade, Napa high baseball has been a major part of my life,” Green said. “To ‘wear the cowboy hat’ as former head coach Todd Pridy calls it, means the world to me. I know this program inside and out, and I love this school and everything it represents from the bottom of my heart.”

Another positive thing about this move is that pretty much all of the staff will remain with the program this next season.  

Napa will begin its season with a pair of road games in Fairfield against Armijo in late February.