The Florida A&M baseball program hired the right guy to lead their baseball program three years ago. For the second time in his three-year stint with the Rattlers, Jamey Shouppe has been named the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Coach of the Year.
Shouppe’s Rattlers won 30 games this year for the first time since 2003. They head into this weekend’s MEAC Conference Tournament as the number one seed after winning more conference games (19) than at any time in program history.
Though their sights are set much higher, If FAMU can win two games this weekend, Shouppe will have won more games in a three-year period than any coach in program history. They are 79-70 since 2014.
Success in any college sport requires two interacting components. First is recruiting quality players (and individuals) to a program. Second is to exert leadership to get talented players to work together toward a common goal.
The results speak for themselves. Four Rattlers were named first team All-MEAC. Eight players in all were selected to either the first, second or third teams.
First baseman and outfielder Dylan Dillard, was named MEAC Player of the Year. Something for which Shouppe can be especially proud is the fact that nine FAMU players were selected to the conference All-Academic Team.
Any coach will admit that recruiting is much easier with top notch facilities, no matter the sport. While improvements are in the works at FAMU’s Moore-Kittles Field, there is still room for improvement.
That makes the quality and quantity of talent coming to Tallahassee’s other major university that much more impressive. He obviously learned a lot from being Florida State’s recruiting coordinator and pitching coach for more than a decade.
While the FAMU family should rightfully be pleased and proud of their program and their coach, there is a downside. If he is not already, Shouppe is about to be a hot commodity for a job with one of college baseball’s major conference programs.
In other words, they should enjoy him while they can.
