What’s Next for Memphis Baseball?

During Memphis baseball’s 2023 season, the Tigers enjoyed their best season in a decade. This was largely due to coach Kerrick Jackson, who seemed locked in on building a culture at Memphis.

It stung earlier this month to see Jackson bolt after his first season for his hometown school Missouri. In this article, I’ll go over a few coaches Memphis could hire if they want to truly keep building their baseball program.

Omar Johnson

Currently the head coach at Jackson State, Omar Johnson would be a home run hire for Memphis. In his 17 seasons at JSU, Johnson has a 538-351 record and has built it into a respectable team in the SWAC. Along with the impressive record, Johnson has led the Tigers to 2 NCAA tournament berths. He could excel at Memphis with better resources and his ability to recruit.

Carl Lafferty

Carl Lafferty has severed as an assistant coach at Ole Miss for the past 17 seasons. Over those years, Lafferty has also been the Rebel’s recruiting coordinator for 12 seasons. He’s been apart of countless successful Ole Miss baseball teams and knows what it takes to win. Those successful seasons include a National Championship in 2022. It would be interesting to see what he could do in a head coaching role.

Julius McDougal

Julius McDougal is currently the associate head coach at Georgetown along with being the batting coach. McDougal has vast experience in college baseball working at Eastern Kentucky and Stillman College previously. Similar to Lafferty, he has never been a head coach, but is a fierce recruiter. At Georgetown, McDougal was able to help put together top-60 recruiting classes.

Overall

Even though Jackson’s unexpected departure hurts badly, Memphis still has a strong chance to turn around its baseball program. Interest seems to be growing and with the new improvements to FedexPark, there’s no reason Memphis can’t compete. Johnson, Lafferty and McDougal are all names that could keep the momentum going.