ALSO SEE: College coaching carousel
It was a busy day in college baseball from a coaching perspective. Several assistants are on the move, and even more head coaching jobs could soon be opening with some of these moves.
• The University of Mississippi embarked on a coaching search for a new recruiting coordinator and assistant coach when Cliff Godwin headed to East Carolina University to replace Billy Godwin. Well, the Rebels made their choice Thursday morning when an offer was extended to Kansas State hitting coach Mike Clement. Clement accepted the offer and will join the Rebels. Clement is known as a very good recruiter in the industry, while also being considered a good hitting coach. He was widely considered the heavy favorite to head to Texas A&M had current A&M hitting coach Andy Sawyers gotten the Illinois State head coaching job -- a position in which he was a finalist for. Clement, of course, coached at A&M before heading to Kansas State for the past three seasons, having one of the nation's more prolific offenses in 2013 on the way to the program's first NCAA Super Regional appearance. Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco needed to make a good hire with the departure of Godwin, and did just that with the addition of Clement ... There's no word on what Ole Miss assistant coach finalist Jake Gautreau, a former Tulane assistant, will do after missing out on this gig. However, chances are good he'll land on his feet somewhere, as he's one of the rising young coaches in college baseball ... With this all said, what direction will Kansas State go? Maryland assistant and former K-State assistant Rob Vaughn seems like the logical choice, but it's absolutely not a slam dunk that Vaughn would head back to Manhattan, Kan., right now.
• Boston College made headlines a couple of weeks ago when assistant coach Scott Friedholm headed to UNC Asheville to become that program's newest head coach. BC is back in the mix again as it searches for Friedholm's replacement. The Eagles have taken a look at a few candidates, but are zeroing in, surprisingly, on University of Rhode Island head coach Jim Foster. Foster was once considered one of the nation's rising head coaches, and will be the newest top assistant for the Eagles barring a last-second change of heart. Foster's addition would be huge for head coach Mike Gambino, who feels like the future of his program is strong with the return of some key cogs next season. The Eagles also should soon be getting some excellent news from a facilities standpoint. Foster recently finished up his 10th season as the skipper for the Rams.
• Sam Houston State has rounded out its coaching staff under new head coach Matt Deggs, who previously was the hitting coach at Louisiana-Lafayette, which had one of the nation's elite offenses in 2014. We reported a while back that ULL volunteer assistant Lance Harvell would be joining Deggs' SHSU staff. Well, his full-time staff has been completed with the addition of Texas-Arlington pitching coach Jay Sirianni. Sirianni, a former Nebraska pitcher, has spent the last nine seasons on the Mavericks' coaching staff, and before that stint, served three seasons as an assistant coach at Barton Community College.
• Louisiana Tech has finalized its coaching staff. The Bulldogs were waiting on potential assistant coach Rick McCarty to make a decision on the Murray State opening. McCarty, though, didn't get the Racers' gig and officially is headed to Ruston, La., to join Greg Goff's coaching staff. The staff also includes Jake Wells, who previously served as the volunteer assistant coach at Mississippi State. Wells, by the way, will be replaced by former Baylor player and Iowa assistant coach Zach Dillon ... Speaking of Murray State, the Racers hired Saint Louis assistant coach Kevin Moulder as its new head coach.
• Longwood, we've confirmed, is expected to soon announce the addition of Navy pitching coach Ryan Mau as its new head coach. The news of Mau's hiring was first reported by College Baseball Insider's Sean Ryan. Mau has spent the past four seasons as the pitching coach at Navy, while before that, spent time as the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at the Virginia Military Institute.
• There only are a few head coach openings left on the College Baseball Coaching Carousel, with one of them being UC Riverside after the retirement of long-time head coach Doug Smith. Though Cal Poly Pomona head coach Randy Betten, Kentucky assistant coach Brian Green and others are in the mix for the UCR job, the leader in the clubhouse, as I reported last week, continues to be former big leaguer Troy Percival. The addition of Percival would be both intriguing and different. Though Percival brings some name recognition and big league background to the table, he doesn't have collegiate coaching experience, with only two seasons as the head coach at Moreno Valley High School as his coaching experience.
• In cased you missed it over the weekend, we reported that Indiana hired East Tennessee State's Kyle Bunn as its new pitching coach. IU took a hard look at Middle Tennessee State's Skylar Meade as well, but chose Bunn, who has extensive experience at Clemson, Ole Miss and Alabama, among other stops. Bunn's addition is a good one for the Hoosiers.
• LSU hitting coach Javi Sanchez surprised many earlier this week when he announced he was moving back to Miami to pursue other opportunities not related to baseball. One would think the Tigers would dissect their many options, but all indications are that Yankees scout Andy Cannizaro has the inside track for the vacancy. Here are stories from LSU beat writers Ross Dellenger and Randy Rosetta on Sanchez's departure and Cannizaro's likelihood.