4 Day Jr. Bison Youth Camp W/ College Coaches and Players
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Jeff Forehand begins his 17th season as the Lipscomb University baseball head coach in 2023 after being named the ASUN Coach of the Year in 2022.
After being named the 15th coach in the history of the storied Lipscomb program in 2007, Forehand has racked up over 600 collegiate wins and sits as the winningest skipper in the program’s NCAA era with a 404-414 record.
His overall record as a collegiate head coach is 633-585-1 in 22 seasons. He earned his 600th career win on February 19, 2022 with a decisive 12-4 victory over Akron – only the second game of the season.
During his tenure, Forehand has led the Bisons to two ASUN Championships and the only two NCAA Tournament appearances in program history in 2008 and 2015.
He has mentored 54 All-ASUN selections, including 11 First Team All-Conference selections, 21 Freshman All-ASUN selections, three ASUN Defensive Players of the Year, two ASUN Tournament MVPs, two ASUN Scholar Athletes of the Year, one ASUN Pitcher of the Year and one ASUN Freshman of the Year.
In addition, Forehand has coached one All-American, four Freshman All-Americans, one All-South Region honoree and the program’s first-ever ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove recipient in 2017 – one of only nine to be honored in Division I.
Having players drafted is nothing new for Forehand as 13 of his student-athletes have received the call on draft day – including a program record three in 2017. There have been 31 total draftees in Lipscomb’s history.
Casey Bond, who played in the Hollywood feature film Moneyball, and John King got the trend started in Forehand’s first season in 2007 as both were selected by the San Francisco Giants. A right-handed pitcher, King was a 17th-round selection, while Bond got the call in the 25th round. Also among the Lipscomb standouts who have been drafted under Forehand are right-handed pitcher Ike Buxton, drafted by the Miami Marlins in the 15th round in 2022, catcher Caleb Joesph, who was drafted in the 7th round by the Baltimore Orioles in 2008, and righty hurler Josh Smith, who was chosen by the Cincinnati Reds in the 21st round in 2010.
Highlighting the draftees under Forehand’s direction was the 2017 class. Centerfielder Michael Gigliotti was a 4th round pick by the Kansas City Royals, right-handed hurler Brady Puckett was taken in the 15th round by the Miami Marlins and Jeffrey Passantino heard his named called as the last selection of the draft by the defending champion Chicago Cubs in the 40th round.
It marked the first time in program history that the Bisons had multiple players chosen in the first 15 rounds of the draft.
Prior to his arrival, Lipscomb had not posted a winning season since joining Division I as a full member in 2004.
After finishing just two games shy of .500 in his first season (28-30) in 2007, the Bisons posted a 33-30 overall mark and won a program-record 19 conference games en route to the team’s first-ever ASUN title and NCAA postseason berth in 2008.
A major underdog, Lipscomb traveled to Athens, Georgia, taking out host Georgia in the opening round of the NCAA Tourney before falling to Georgia Tech in round two. That setup a rematch with the Bulldogs and Georgia prevailed in round two ending the Bisons first NCAA Regional.
Forehand’s 2009 club came within one win of back-to-back trips to the NCAA tournament falling in the A-Sun championship game. That season would see another milestone for Forehand’s program as pitcher Rex Brothers would become the second Lipscomb player drafted in the top round of the Major League Baseball draft. Taken as the 34th overall pick in the draft by the Colorado Rockies, the hard-throwing lefty made a quick rise to the majors making his MLB debut June 6th, 2011 with a 96 mph fastball against the San Diego Padres.
With the departure of a number of key contributors to graduation and the MLB Draft, Forehand and the Bisons went the next five seasons without ever winning more than 25 games or anything better than a 4th-place finish in the ASUN.
2009: (24-32, 17-13 ASUN)
2010: (19-36, 9-17 ASUN)
2011: (19-36, 10-20 ASUN)
2012: (25-30, 14-13 ASUN)
2013: (25-34, 13-14 ASUN)
Those results didn’t stop Forehand and his staff from making headlines on the recruiting trail. Forehand’s 2015 signing class was the highest-ranked class in program history, according to Perfect Game’s rankings. Lipscomb finished with the 56th-best class, trailing only Vanderbilt (1st) and Tennessee (42nd) inside the state lines.
In 2014 Lipscomb got off to a slow 2-8 start before heating up in a hurry. The Bisons stung together a NCAA-era best 10-game win streak and won 14 of their next 15 games to put together a 33-28 overall record – tying the then record for wins in a season in the NCAA era.
The team rolled into the ASUN Championship as the No. 4 seed, but after knocking off top seed and host FGCU twice, Lipscomb won its way into the championship series with Kennesaw State.
Offense was hard to come by against the Owls as the team stranded 12 runners on base in a 7-1 loss. KSU parlayed that win into a Super Regional berth.
In 2015, Forehand pioneered the best season in the program’s NCAA era winning a school record 39 games. It was the first time the Bisons had won at least 30 games in back-to-back seasons in Division I era.
Closing the season as road warriors with 15-straight wins on the road, the Bisons clinched the No. 2 seed as the traveled to Fort Myers, Florida for the ASUN Championship.
Great pitching and timely hitting powered Lipscomb’s 4-0 record in the championship with back-to-back victories over top-seeded North Florida – who possessed one of the most potent offenses in the country.
In the title game, Forehand made one of the best moves of his career going to freshman Allan Hooker off the bench as a pinch hitter. After going down three runs after three innings, Hooker blasted a go-ahead 3-run bomb in the top of the fourth to give Lipscomb a 5-3 lead and it never looked back en route to a dog pile at the mound when the final out was made.
The Bisons didn’t have to travel far as the committee sent them down the road to the Vanderbilt Regional. Earlier in the season on April 7 in a midweek at Hawkins Field, Lipscomb earned a 3-1 victory over then-No. 1 Vandy behind a 7.1-inning gem from freshman Brady Puckett – it was the fewest runs for the Dores in 29 games.
The NCAA Tournament matchup was a different story however, facing a MLB first rounder in Carson Fulmer. Vandy rode the hard-throwing righty to a 9-1 win in front of more than 3,600 fans in attendance. The very next day, the Bisons’ season came to an end with a 5-2 loss to No. 2 Radford.
In 2016, the Bisons put together a third straight 30-win season after finishing 31-27 overall and 12-9 in the ASUN for a fourth place finish.
Puckett – as a sophomore – was voted unanimously the ASUN’s Pitcher of the Year and earned a Louisville Slugger Third Team All-American nod. He tossed his way to a 9-2 record and a 2.93 ERA in 15 starts. He led the league in wins, strikeouts (101), innings pitched (107.2) and ASUN Pitcher of the Week awards (4).
Lipscomb hosted the ASUN Tournament and downed Jacksonville 10-8 in the first round, but eventually dropped games against North Florida and FGCU to end the year.
Forehand entered the 2017 with arguably the most talented roster in program history and one that was thought to be the best in the ASUN. The head coaches around the league voted Lipscomb the ASUN preseason favorite for the first time in program history. The team didn’t quite live up to that billing as it came down to the last game of the regular season for the Bisons to clinch the No. 6 seed.
After falling to Jacksonville in the first round, the Bisons upended host and No. 2 seed Stetson, 8-6. They then fell to FGCU the next day to end the season.
With a new roster that saw 10 players leave due to graduation and the MLB Draft, Lipscomb took its growing pains in stride in 2018, finishing 24-30. The marquee win came on March 27 at First Tennessee Park where the Bisons took down No. 8 Vanderbilt, 5-1, while holding them to just one hit.
In June, Forehand had his 12th player selected in the draft when the San Diego Padres called the name of second baseman Lee Solomon.
The 2020 season was a unique one for Forehand and his squad. This Bisons got out to a quick start and set a program record by winning the first six games of the season. However, due to the unforeseen circumstances brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the season was brought to a halt and canceled with just 16 games being played out of the scheduled 53. Lipscomb went 11-5 in those 16 games.
The shortened 2021 season saw an 11-11 home record for the Bisons, on their way to an 18-29 overall record for the season with eight of their matchups canceled. The squad interspersed their season with attention-grabbing victories, including a 4-1 triumph over SEC opponent #4 Tennessee at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on April 27.
Forehand hit a major coaching milestone in the second game of the 2022 season as he hit 600 wins in a 12-4 home victory over Akron to kick offf the season on a strong note. The Bisons logged a 35-23 record including a 20-10 record against conference opponents. Forehand’s 2022 team logged six series sweeps and saw to of their memebrs to the pros as right-handed pitcher Ike Buxton was drafted by the Miami Marlins in the 15th round of the MLB draft and Trey Nordmann signed with the Baltimore Orioles in July.
Prior to taking over the Lipscomb program in 07, Forehand had a highly successful stint across town at Trevecca Nazarene where he led the Trojans to a 211-142-1 in six seasons. At Trevecca, Forehand earned 2004 NAIA Region XI Coach of the year and was twice named TransSouth Conference Coach of the Year in 2004 and 2005. The Trojans also excelled in the classroom as the team grade point average increased a half a point in his tenure.
While at Trevecca, Forehand saw three players have their names called on draft day as Mario Campos (Red Sox, 2001), B.J. Jenkins (San Diego Padres,2004) and Brad Coon (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 2005) each were selected.
Before taking over the Trojan’s program, Forehand got his head-coaching start at Nashville’s Goodpasture Christian School where in seven seasons he won three state titles (1995, 1997, 1999). He is also a three-time Tennessee State Coach of the Year honoree winning the award each of those three years. Prior to taking over the Goodpasture program, Forehand served as an assistant coach from 1990-92 under his father, Fred, at Montgomery Bell Academy.
A native of the “Music City”, the former second baseman played college ball at nearby Belmont under coach Dave Whitten graduating in 1989. Forehand also holds a Masters of Education degree from Tennessee State.
A lifelong resident of the city of Nashville, Forehand and his wife, Karen, have two sons, Gant and Brooks.
Matt Myers enters his second season as Lipscomb’s Pitching Coach since joining the staff in the 2021-22 season.
“Matt is a great addition to our program. We are fortunate to be able to get him on board, especially in the middle of the year,” said head coach Jeff Forehand. “First of all, Matt is an awesome person and will immediately add to our culture. Secondly, he will add excitement, passion and experience to our pitching staff. Players love playing for him and he has had success on the field at every place he has been. We are looking forward to see what this spring brings and are glad Matt Myers is a Bison.”
Myers comes to Lipscomb with a wealth of experience, coaching at all levels and has coached 19 hurlers that have been drafted in the MLB Draft. That number grew following Myers’ first season with the Bisons when righty pitcher Ike Buxton was called up by the Miami Marlins in the 15th round of the 2022 draft.
Myers joins Lipscomb after a three-season stint as the UNCW pitching coach. While with the Seahawks, he helped the program reach its sixth-straight Colonial Athletic Association championship game behind a stellar pitching rotation. His pitching staff finished the 2021 season ranked 31st nationally with a 3.93 earned run average. He coached Adam Smith and Landen Roupp who ranked second and third, respectively in the CAA with ERA’s of 2.49 and 2.58. UNCW also ranked 32nd in hits allowed per nine innings. Both Roupp and smith who were selected in the 2021 MLB draft by the Giants and Padres, respectively.
In his first season with the Seahawks, the squad broke the program strikeout record, fanning 558 batters and limiting opponents to a .228 batting average. UNCW ranked 16th nationally in hits allowed per nine innings (7.69). His pitching staff led UNCW to the CAA Tournament Title and played in the 2021 Chapel Hill Regional. During the 2021 season, Myers coached both Zarion Sharpe (19th round) and Justin Crump (30th round) who were selected in the 2020 Major League Baseball draft.
Before his stint at UNCW, Myers spent three-seasons (2016-18) as the head coach at Bowling Green High School, in Bowling Green, Ky.
He previously served as the head coach at Western Kentucky for four seasons and helped the Hilltoppers transition from the Sun Belt Conference to Conference USA. Myers had 18 players drafted while at Western Kentucky, including seven pitchers. The Hilltoppers featured Kes Carter, a two-way player, who was picked by the Tampa Bay Rays in the first round, the highest ever for the Hilltopper program.
Prior to Western Kentucky, Myers was pitching coach at Auburn for three seasons. While with the Tigers, he helped the program to the NCAA Regional in his first season and led a staff that featured four pitchers selected in the 2005 Major League Baseball draft. He had another hurler selected in 2006 and two more in 2007.
Myers began his coaching career in 2001 as an assistant coach at UNC Asheville before being elevated to head coach of the Bulldogs. He was named Big South Conference Coach-of-the-Year in 2003, his third season with the program.
Myers pitched collegiately for two years at the University of Tennessee for head coach Rod Delmonico in 1996 and 1997. He embarked on his coaching career in 1999 as a graduate assistant for the Vols.
Brian Ryman enters his 17th year as the director of operations for the Lipscomb athletics department.
Ryman served as director of baseball operations in 2006. He was named an assistant coach for the 2007 and 2008 seasons before returning as director of baseball operations in 2009 and 2010. In 2011 Ryman began to serve as the Director of Operations for the entire department as well as director of baseball operations.
Ryman’s responsibilities with the baseball program include managing baseball camps, over seeing fundraising, team travel, on-campus recruiting, and summer league placement for the Lipscomb players.
Ryman is also baseball’s liaison with Lipscomb athletics compliance. He also works closely with the National Bison Club and the Lipscomb Baseball Alumni, organizing various team events throughout the year, and he helps coordinate the Lipscomb Baseball Alumni & Friends Golf Tournament.
A native of Jefferson City, Tenn., Ryman served as a manager and student assistant at the University of Tennessee. During his time with the Vols, the team went to three SEC tournaments, three regionals, and one super regional, and the College World Series in 2005.
Ryman was born May 30, 1980. His late father, Keith, was a scout for the Chicago Cubs and his brother played at Carson- Newman College. He attended Jefferson County High School, Hiwassee College and The University of Tennessee.
Ryman was named head coach of the Nashville Outlaws, a collegiate summer league team, in February of 2010.
Ryman is married to the former Kristin Peck who is the head softball coach at Lipscomb University. The couple resides in Nashville, Tenn.
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