The newest associate head coach for the ACU baseball team will be a familiar face.
Fifteen-year veteran assistant coach Brandon Stover has been promoted to the job.
Head baseball coach Britt Bonneau said Stover earned the promotion long before now.
Stover has spent the last 15 years with the ACU baseball program, going back to when he was a player for the Wildcats.
“It was a long time overdue,” Bonneau said. “To have a guy like that who represents us, it was an easy decision.”
Stover will continue to serve as recruiting coordinator and hitting coach for the team. He became hitting coach in 2007 and has developed 36 all-conference honorees, three league MVPs and two LSC freshmen of the year. He also gave ACU it’s all-time hitter in catcher Jordan Schmitt.
Schmitt holds the all-time record for the Wildcats in hits (281), RBIs (218), doubles (70) and total bases (470).
“Brandon works relentlessly on the recruiting trail,” Bonneau said. “He’s my eyes when I am not able to go out. It’s just one of those deals where you want them to feel as much a part of this program as the head coach.”
Stover has brought multiple key players to the program. The most recent honored players are Tyler Eager and Kyle Giusti.
Eager earned Lone Star Conference Freshman of the Year in 2012 batting .329 with 69 hits and 33 RBIs. Giusti followed Eager’s performance by hitting .358 with 40 RBIs and became an all-region honorable mention.
“I am excited to have this opportunity to assume a greater role in the program,” Stover said. “It doesn’t change much on the recruiting side, but this means a lot.”
Stover has been a part of the ACU baseball program for 17 years, including his playing days. He became the Wildcats fifth All-American in 2002 at first base and played on the team that won three straight LSC titles and accumulated 45 wins in a single season.
“ACU means a lot to me and my family growing up as a player and a coach here,” he said. “It just means a ton to me to try and build this program to be what we want it to be at the Div. I level.”
