Tremont’s Betson wins 2026 Clutch Sports Media Baseball Coach of the Year

It hasn’t taken Eddie Betson long to make his mark as a high school baseball head coach. 

In just two years at Tremont, he’s led the Turks to new heights with a Class 1A state championship and their winningest two-year stretch in program history, including a team record 38 wins in 2026. After leading Tremont to the pinnacle during the spring, Betson is Clutch Sports Media’s 2026 Baseball Coach of the Year. 

Prior to his time at Tremont, Betson spent time coaching at Washington St. Patrick’s Middle School and for Metamora’s sophomore team. He was hired at Tremont prior to the 2025 season and led the Turks to a 27-6 record and runner-up finish in the Heart of Illinois Conference in his first campaign.

In 2026, Betson led Tremont to a 38-2 season where the team went on a dominating tear to win the first state title in program history. The Turks excelled on both sides of the ball by scoring 9.9 runs per game while holding opponents to just under two runs per game. 

All of that came against a difficult schedule where Tremont beat powers such as Brimfield/Elmwood, Lexington and a challenging Heart of Illinois Conference slate that the Turks went unbeaten against to win the HOIC title. They beat Putnam County 10-3 in the state semifinals and beat Putnam County 10-0 in the championship game to become the first team to induce the run rule in an IHSA state title game since 2021. 

Many of the area’s best stars flourish under Betson’s leadership, including Clutch Sports Media First Team All-Area selections Andrew Dawson, Griffin Meeker, Chase Rhodes and Josh Papenhause. A total of six Tremont players were CSM All-Area honorees. Betson was also named the Greater Peoria Baseball Coaches Association Small School Coach of the Year.

Hear more about Betson’s season and career in our interview with him below, some responses have been minimally edited for clarity. 

What have you been able to reflect on in the days since the season has ended? 

“Obviously this season was as good as it gets, winning 38 games and a state championship, we just did a lot of cool things that most teams don’t accomplish,” Betson said. “From going to state, the team dinners and going to the Turkey Fest [after winning the state championship], there were a lot of great memories that we had and this team will be sorely missed.”

What’s your coaching background? 

“I’ve had three years at Tremont but before that I had two years coaching Metamora’s sophomores,” Betson said. “Before that, I coached Washington St. Patrick’s [Middle School] for seven years.” 

What’s your motivation to keep coaching?

“A motivation for us as a team is to get better,” Betson said. “We had 10 seniors [this past year] and a lot of juniors that will be seniors now but there’s an opportunity to get more varsity experience and challenges. I’m looking forward to seeing those guys step up and for us to compete.”

What’s a piece of coaching advice you’d give?

“There’s three things you got to do; you got to have good pitching, timely hitting and making plays in the field and you got to have all three things,” Betson said. “If you have all of them, you’re going to win the game and if not, your ship sinks.”