Monticello Live

 

University of Arkansas at Monticello Athletics Director Chris Ratcliff has announced the hiring of John Harvey to become the university’s 11th head baseball coach.

Harvey was introduced to the community and members of the media at a Wednesday morning press conference held inside UAM’s indoor practice facility.

“I am very excited to bring a coach with the experience and caliber that John has into our athletic department,” said Ratcliff at the press conference. “I had a very detailed game-plan going into this process… I wanted a man of high character and someone that has the proven ability to win, among other things… I called a lot of people for references, and John was the perfect fit for this opportunity.”

For the past six seasons, Harvey has been in the process of rebuilding a Henderson State baseball program that has not won a conference championship since 1982. The past two seasons, Harvey has seen his hard work reflect in his team’s performance on the diamond. The Reddies broke the program’s single-season record for wins with 34 in 2009, but ironically, a 6-5 loss to UAM in Monticello smashed the Reddies’ hopes of qualifying for post-season play.

In addition to a record-breaking 2009 season in terms of wins, Harvey also produced a school-record seven All-GSC selections. Also during the 2009 season, the Reddies were ranked as high as No. 14 after upsetting then-ranked No. 7 North Alabama in early March.

In 2010, Harvey and the Reddies turned the corner with the program’s first ever appearance in the Gulf South Conference Championship Tournament as the GSC-West’s No. 4 seed. Harvey’s Reddies finished the season with an overall record of 31-18 and a 12-8 record in GSC games.

“I am very excited to be a Boll Weevil,” said Harvey after being introduced to the UAM community. “I know we can win here, but more importantly, I know we can win the right way… Our players will go to class and they will graduate… On the field, there will be an exciting brand of baseball… We will be very aggressive in all aspects of the game, and we will stress defense and effective pitching.”

Harvey continued, “The welcome I have received has been awesome… I want to thank Dr. (Jack) Lassiter, Chris Ratcliff and the entire hiring committee for giving me this opportunity.

In May of 2004, Harvey was named interim head coach at HSU after serving the previous two seasons as the program’s hitting, infield, recruiting, scouting and camp coordinator. In April of 2005, the interim part of his title was removed. In his first season as head coach, the Reddies finished the season with an overall record of 31-22 and 12-11 in GSC games for a fifth place finish in the division.

After his six-year tenure at HSU, Harvey sports a 154-148 overall career record and a 56-69 record in GSC games.

Prior to becoming an assistant coach at Henderson State, Harvey spent the 2002 season as an assistant coach at Itawamba Community College.

Harvey was a four-year letter winner for the Lyon College Scots under head coach Kirk Kelley. He received the “Scot of the Year” award in 2001, and also set nine school records. He is a 2001 graduate of Lyon College with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. In 2004, he earned a master’s degree in sports administration from Henderson State.

Harvey is a native of Lufkin, Texas and attended Hudson High School. He is married to the former Jaime Bedard of Jonesboro, and the couple has two boys, Brooks Michael and Brock Maddox.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 9th, 2010 at 6:30 am and is filed under UAM Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.