SPARTANBURG, S.C. –
Two Southern Conference baseball coaches have been named to Perfect Game’s list
of 10 rising head coaches in the country, the organization announced Monday. College
of Charleston’s Monte Lee and Samford’s Casey Dunn earned the distinction.
Lee is coming off a phenomenal 2012 season in which he led
the Cougars to a share of the Southern Conference regular-season title and a
trip to the NCAA Gainesville Regional. College of Charleston posted a 38-22
record last season with wins over eventual national runner-up South Carolina,
Clemson and Coastal Carolina.
In his four seasons with College of Charleston, Lee has
posted a 156-85 record for a winning percentage of .647. The Cougars have
finished in the top five in the nation in home runs in each of Lee’s four years
and have earned berths in NCAA Regionals in 2010 and 2012.
A former CofC baseball player himself, Lee graduated from
the College in 2000 and was an assistant coach at South Carolina from 2002-08.
He is enshrined in the College of Charleston baseball Wall of Fame.
Kendall Rogers of Perfect Game wrote this about Lee and the
Cougars’ baseball program:
“Charleston has been one of the nation's most consistent
mid-major programs the past few years, and Lee only has continued that
tradition. The Cougars have had a lot of success during Lee's tenure with the
program. He guided the program to a very impressive 39-22 record two seasons
ago before making an NCAA Regional appearance last season with a 38-22 overall
mark. In addition to his time as head coach at Charleston, Lee also was groomed
by former South Carolina coach Ray Tanner during his six seasons with the
Gamecocks. It would be a safe bet to say Lee will get a legitimate ACC or SEC
offer in the next few seasons.”
College of Charleston will open the 2013 season on Friday,
Feb. 15 at Patriots Point against Xavier.
Dunn, entering his ninth season as the Bulldogs’ head coach,
has guided the program to the top six single-season win totals in program
history. His 2012 squad holds the school record with 41 wins to go along with
the program’s first-ever Southern Conference Championship title and NCAA Regional
appearance.
The 2011 team held the previous record for wins with 37,
reaching the SoCon tournament title game for the first time. Dunn has led his
team to at least 31 wins in six of his first eight years as the Bulldogs’ head
coach. Prior to Dunn’s arrival, Samford had never won 30 games in back-to-back
seasons in the program’s history.
Rogers said of Dunn:
“It's tough to find a hotter mid-major coach than Dunn. The
former Auburn player, who also spent time as an assistant at AU, has flourished
at Samford over the past couple of seasons. Dunn is entering his ninth campaign
with the Bulldogs, but has shown the most progress the last two seasons. The
Bulldogs finished 37-23 in 2011 before taking a giant step forward in '12 with
a 41-23 overall mark and a trip to the Tallahassee Regional title game against
Florida State. Samford once again is expected to be solid in '13. Look for
Dunn's stock to only rise.”
Dunn and the Bulldogs open the 2013 season on Feb. 15, when
Samford plays host to Youngstown State.
Also appearing on the list is former Appalachian State coach
Chris Pollard. Now the head coach at Duke, Pollard led Appalachian State to a
41-18 overall record and a share of the SoCon regular-season title last season
en route to earning SoCon Coach of the Year honors.