Jeff Waggoner Position: Head Coach, Third Season

In just his second season at Marshall, head coach Jeff Waggoner led the Thundering Herd to 30 wins, the most in program history. The Herd notched a 30-30-1 overall record and finished sixth in Conference USA with a 10-13-1 mark, and a berth in the 2008 Entergy C-USA Baseball Championship tournament hosted by Tulane.

At the tournament, Marshall defeated third-seeded Tulane twice, second-seeded Southern Miss twice, before falling to No.4 Houston in the championship game, 3-2. All three of those teams were NCAA Regional participants in 2008, while the Herd finished one run shy of its first NCAA Regional appearance since 1978. For his efforts, Waggoner was named All-Pavlovich Team Coach of the Year in "Collegiate Baseball" Newspaper.

Last season also saw three of Marshall's players (Steve Blevins, Tommy Johnson and Nate Lape) and a high school signee (Greg Williams) drafted in the 2008 Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft.

Under Waggoner's guidance, the Herd placed three players (Blevins, Lape and Victor Gomez) on all-C-USA teams, while two (Lape and Gomez) were named to all All-Mideast Region squads. Gomez also earned Freshman All-American honors, while Lape and Adam Yeager, played summer ball for the Brewster Whitecaps of the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League.

Entering his third season at the helm, Waggoner is putting his team in position to make a bid for an NCAA Regional appearance. Fifty-six games dot Marshall's upcoming campaign, including 21 home contests. The Herd's C-USA home slate, which features 2008 NCAA Regional participants East Carolina, Houston and Tulane, along with UAB, will be played at Appalachian Power Park in Charleston, W.Va. Marshall's nine remaining home contests will be played at the Kennedy Center on Route 2 in Huntington.

The Herd will also play eight road games against four NCAA Regional teams from a year ago, including midweek tilts against Virginia and Kentucky, as well as three-game sets with C-USA foes Southern Miss and Rice. The schedule also features three new opponents, as Marshall will meet Old Dominion, Radford and South Florida for the first time in program history.

In his first season with the Herd, Waggoner led the squad to a 21-32 record which included a 15-11 mark at home. The Alliance Ohio native helped lead Marshall to a 5-18 record in C-USA picking up series wins (wins in two out of three games) against both Memphis and Houston, and picked up a win against UCF.

Before taking over the head coaching position at Marshall, Waggoner spent the last two seasons as an assistant with the nationally-ranked North Carolina State University Wolfpack.

While with the Wolfpack, Waggoner was a part of two N.C. State teams that had a combined record of 81-41 and played in two NCAA tournaments. In 2006, N.C. State finished second in the ACC Tournament and was runner up in the NCAA Austin Regional. The Wolfpack ranked as high as seventh in the nation last season while finishing third nationally in hitting (.333) and second in the ACC in fielding percentage (.970).

A total of six players were named to All-ACC teams, with two (Ramon Corona and Matt Camp) claiming All-America honors.

Waggoner's responsibilities with the Wolfpack included player development, recruiting, academic support, travel and directing N.C. State's summer baseball camps.

Before his arrival in Raleigh, Waggoner spent two seasons at Kent State University. The Golden Flashes captured the 2004 MAC Tournament Championship during his tenure and also had seven players selected in the Major League Baseball draft. He was also an assistant coach at George Washington University from 2000-02, where he helped guide the Colonials to a school record for wins in a season (42) and the Atlantic 10 championship in 2002. George Washington led the A-10 and was among the national leaders in both batting average (.326) and home runs (91) that season. The Colonials posted a two-year record of 80-45 during Waggoner's stay, and five GW players were selected in the MLB draft.

Before his two years at George Washington, Waggoner spent the 2000 season at the College of St. Rose in Albany, N.Y., helping St. Rose earn a berth in the Division II College World Series in 2000.

Waggoner has worked with two collegiate summer baseball teams. He was the head coach of the Arlington Senators of the Clark Griffith League in 2002, guiding the Senators to a 32-10 regular-season record, the Clark Griffith League championship, and the All-American Amateur Baseball Association (AAABA) national championship. Prior to that, he was an assistant coach for the Schenectady Mohawks of the New York Collegiate League in 1999 and 2000.

Waggoner lettered two years as a catcher at Cleveland State University, and graduated with a sport management degree in 1998. He played two years at Crowder College in Neosho, Mo., prior to transferring to Cleveland State. Waggoner received his master's degree in Educational Psychology from St. Rose in 2001. He and his wife, Rachelle, were married on August 27, 2004 and together they have a daughter.