Schoenrock Named Memphis Tiger Baseball Coach
University of Memphis Athletic Director R.C. Johnson announced today that Mississippi State assistant coach Daron Schoenrock will become the 16th baseball coach in school history. Schoenrock (pronounced SHONE-rock) recently completed his second season as an assistant coach on the MSU staff, and his fourth year in association with MSU skipper Ron Polk. His primary responsibilities included coaching Bulldog pitchers and overseeing State's recruiting efforts. Schoenrock was also instrumental in coordinating the activities of the Bulldogs' foster-parent program. (more)

Great choice. Coach "Rock" will do well, but has an uphill battle in Memphis.

Why the uphill battle at Memphis? I know that the field is off campus but alot of schools have that problem. It seems that the Memphis and West Tennessee geographical area has good players every year that are leaving the area to play at other schools. Can Memphis keep that talent at home?

Good luck to Coach Rock. He is an outstanding man and coach. We have the utmost respect for him and I'm sure he will do well.

Memphis will need to upgrade their facilities to compete with the Miss. schools, but, as cbg says, if he can keep most of that Memphis prep talent at home the Tigers can be very successful.

cbg,
No slight of the Memphis program at all, but they need to upgrade their facilities if they expect to keep the top West Tennessee players. This year I counted over 12 sheets of unpainted plywood in the outfield fence and the duggouts are very sub-par for a D1 school.

They did resurface the field this year which is a nice improvement. I'm sure Coach Anderson worked hard at getting these things accomplished and Coach "Rock" will do a good job making some upgrades. When a player has some choices facilities become VERY important in the recruiting game.

How often will they play at Auto Zone Park? Will that ever be considered the home park.

Mike Federico and Jerry Zulli Fill Out UM Baseball Staff

July 28, 2004

MEMPHIS, TENN. - University of Memphis baseball coach Daron Schoenrock announced today the hiring of Mike Federico and Jerry Zulli as assistant coaches on the Tiger Baseball staff.

Link: Press Release