Barry Myers (baseball)

Barry Myers (September 11, 1938[1] - August 10, 2017[2]) was an American former college baseball and men's soccer coach. He was the head baseball coach at both Jacksonville, from 1967 to 1973, and Mercer, from 1978 to 2003. At Jacksonville, he led the Dolphins to their first two NCAA Tournaments, one each in the College and University Divisions. At Mercer, he won three TAAC Tournaments and was named TAAC Coach of the Year four times. A native West Virginian, Myers attended Marshall University, where he played baseball for the Thundering Herd under head coach Bill Chambers. He was also Mercer's soccer coach from 1974 to 1976, amassing a 12-21-3 overall record.

Barry Myers (Baseball Coach)

Biographical details
Born	September 11, 1938 New Martinsville, West Virginia
Died	August 10, 2017 (aged 78)
Alma mater	Marshall University
Playing career
?–1960	Marshall
Position(s)	Pitcher
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1963	Florida State (asst.)
1964–1966	Miami-Dade JC (asst.)
1967–1973	Jacksonville
1974–1977	Mercer (asst.)
1978–2003	Mercer
Head coaching record
Overall	852-765-8
Tournaments	NCAA D1: 0-2 A-Sun: 20-11 NCAA D2: 1-2
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
TAAC Tournament: 1979, 1981, 1983 TAAC Division: 1982, 1994, 1997
Awards
College Division District 3 Coach of the Year: 1968 TAAC Coach of the Year: 1979, 1981, 1983, 1994

Coaching career

Early career

After graduating from Marshall in 1960, Myers coached high school baseball in West Virginia for a few seasons. He began his college coaching career as a graduate assistant at Florida State in 1963. He then spent three seasons (1964–1966) at Miami-Dade Junior College as an assistant under Demie Mainieri. In 1964, Miami-Dade won the NJCAA National Championship.[3][4][5][6][7]

Jacksonville

Ahead of the 1967 season, Myers was hired as the head coach at Jacksonville, then a College Division school. Myers said of the hire, "I think coaching at Jacksonville is going to be a tremendous challenge, but that's why I chose coaching as a profession, because of the challenge."[4]

In his second season, Jacksonville had a 21-11-2 regular season to qualify for its first NCAA Tournament. It went 1-2 in the District 3 Regional held in Fort Eustis, Virginia. It lost its opener to Long Island, defeated Belmont Abbey in an elimination game, and was then knocked out by Long Island. Myers was named the season's College Division District 3 Coach of the Year.[5][8][9]

Jacksonville began playing in the large-school University Division in 1969. In 1972, it went 36-12 in the regular season to qualify for its first University Division Tournament. At the District 3 Regional in Gastonia, North Carolina, the team went 0-2, losing games to Ole Miss and South Alabama.[8][10]

During Myers's tenure, Jacksonville had three All-America selections and four MLB Draft selections. Tom McMillan, a second-round selection of the Cleveland Indians in 1973, later played in Major League Baseball.[8][11]

Mercer

Myers left Jacksonville to become an assistant at Mercer from 1974 to 1977. He was promoted to head coach to replace Claude Smith. He was Mercer's head coach from 1978 to 2003 and had an overall record of 663-677-5.[12][13][14]

After going 32-16 in Myers' first season, 1978, Mercer joined the newly formed Trans America Athletic Conference. In its first five seasons in the league, 1979 to 1983, it had four 30-win seasons and won three TAAC Tournaments. Myers was named TAAC Coach of the Year in each of the tournament-winning seasons. The team returned to the TAAC Tournament in 1984. The Bears won three of the first four TAAC Player of the Year awards, including Craig Gibson's in 1985.[13]

Mercer struggled from 1986 to 1993. It had three winning seasons but no winning seasons in the TAAC. In 1994, however, Myers was named Coach of the Year for the fourth time as the team won West Division and played in the conference tournament. The Bears won their division again in 1997 and appeared in another conference tournament in 1999.[13]

Myers retired after the 2003 season. He was replaced by Gibson, who had been an assistant from 1987 to 1988 and 1994 to 2003.[15][16]

During his tenure, Mercer had 13 MLB Draft selections, including a high of three in both the 1983 and 1990 drafts. One former player, Mike Mimbs, went on to play in Major League Baseball.[17]

Head coaching record

Below is a table of Myers's yearly records as a collegiate head baseball coach.[8][9][10][12][13]

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Jacksonville (Independent – College Division) (1967–1968)
1967	Jacksonville	21-9
1968	Jacksonville	22-13-2			NCAA Regional
Jacksonville (Independent – University Division) (1969–1973)
1969	Jacksonville	22-13-1
1970	Jacksonville	31-8
1971	Jacksonville	27-14
1972	Jacksonville	36-14			NCAA Regional
1973	Jacksonville	30-17
Jacksonville:		189-88-3
Mercer (Independent – Division I) (1978)
1978	Mercer	32-16
Mercer (TAAC/A-Sun[lower-alpha 1]) (1979–2003)
1979	Mercer	38-16			TAAC Tournament
1980	Mercer	33-17			TAAC Tournament
1981	Mercer	39-12-1	3-4	2nd (East)	TAAC Tournament
1982	Mercer	35-22	8-2	1st (East)
1983	Mercer	29-26-1			TAAC Tournament
1984	Mercer	23-23	10-6	2nd (East)	TAAC Tournament
1985	Mercer	24-28	9-9	2nd (East)
1986	Mercer	25-24	8-10	T-2nd (East)
1987	Mercer	27-22	6-9	3rd (East)
1988	Mercer	24-25	7-10	3rd (East)
1989	Mercer	16-35	4-14	4th (East)
1990	Mercer	15-34	2-14	4th (East)
1991	Mercer	15-31	2-16	4th (East)
1992	Mercer	29-20	8-10	3rd (East)
1993	Mercer	15-34	6-14	5th (West)
1994	Mercer	32-24	15-9	T-1st (West)	TAAC Tournament
1995	Mercer	15-36-2	9-18	T-9th
1996	Mercer	25-30	7-11	4th (East)
1997	Mercer	36-23	12-6	1st (East)	TAAC Tournament
1998	Mercer	27-26-1	7-13	4th (East)
1999	Mercer	36-24	19-11	T-3rd	TAAC Tournament
2000	Mercer	16-35	8-19	8th
2001	Mercer	24-28	10-17	8th
2002	Mercer	22-32	13-17	T-6th
2003	Mercer	11-34	6-21	12th
Mercer:		663-677-5	179-260
Total:		852-765-8
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

Notes

1. After the 2001 season, the Trans America Athletic Conference renamed itself the Atlantic Sun Conference.

References

1. "Barry Myers". The Telegraph. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
2. Brian Foley (August 12, 2017). "Long-time Mercer coach Barry Myers Passes Away". College Baseball Daily. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
3. "Auburn Baseball vs. Mercer Preview". AuburnTigers.com. Auburn Athletics Communications. Archived from the original on July 28, 2014.
4. "Barry Myers Named Coach at Jacksonville". The Miami News. April 21, 1966. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
5. "Barry Myers Coach of the Year". The Miami News. June 6, 1968. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
6. "NJCAA Baseball History and Records" (PDF). NJCAA.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 28, 2014. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
7. Rosetta, Randy (February 11, 2014). "Demie Mainieri, Father of LSU Coach Paul Mainieri, Selected for National College Baseball Hall of Fame". Nola.com. The Times-Picayune. Archived from the original on July 28, 2014. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
8. "2014 Jacksonville Baseball Media Guide" (PDF). JUDolphins.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 28, 2014. Retrieved July 27, 2014.
9. "2013 NCAA Division II Baseball Championship Record Book" (PDF). NCAA.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 13, 2013. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
10. "NCAA Division I Baseball Championship Record Book" (PDF). NCAA.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 5, 2014. Retrieved June 5, 2014.
11. "MLB Amateur Draft Picks Who Came from "Jacksonville University (Jacksonville, FL)"". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on July 28, 2014. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
12. "2014 Mercer Bears Baseball Media Guide". MercerBears.com. Mercer Athletic Media Relations. Archived from the original on July 4, 2014. Retrieved July 3, 2014.
13. "2013 Atlantic Sun Conference Baseball Record Book" (PDF). AtlanticSun.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2014. Retrieved July 3, 2014.
14. "2013 Inductees". July 29, 2014. MaconSportsHOF.com. March 7, 2013. Archived from the original on July 29, 2014. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
15. Pope, Bobby (May 20, 2013). "Gibson Takes Mercer Baseball to Next Level". Macon.com. The Telegraph. Archived from the original on July 4, 2014. Retrieved July 3, 2014.
16. "Monday's Transactions". LubbockOnline.com. Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. January 28, 2003. Archived from the original on July 29, 2014. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
17. "MLB Amateur Draft Picks Who Came from "Mercer"". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on July 4, 2014. Retrieved July 3, 2014.