Auburn Baseball severed ties with head coach Sunny Golloway last week, leaving Greg Norton at the helm of the program until a new coach is found. With fall ball in full swing, pulling a coach away from his program will be difficult, but the luster of heading an SEC program won't be easy to pass up. The Auburn family can only hope that Jay Jacobs and staff will take their time with this search, instead of opting for another splash hire.
Whoever does take command of the program will be ready to hit the ground running with the talented crop of returners that Auburn has to offer. If I'm Jay Jacobs, these are the candidates I have my eye on:
1. Butch Thompson
The reigning 2014 Baseball America and American Baseball Coaches Association National Assistant Coach of the Year has had a lucrative career with a range of successful pupils on his resume. The Birmingham-Southern grad has been on nine conference championship teams and one national championship squad.
Thompson served as pitching coach at Auburn under Tom Slater from 2006-08, where each of his three recruiting classes were ranked among the nation's top 18, including a No. 5 national ranking in 2007. A mound-minded coach will do the Auburn program a world of good, especially one that's been a highly regarded assistant in the SEC for over a decade.
2. Scott Forbes
The North Carolina pitching coach has been an instrumental part of the Tar Heels' six runs to Omaha in the last nine seasons. Twenty-five of his students have either been drafted or signed professional contracts over the last eight seasons, including first-rounders Daniel Bard, Andrew Miller and Matt Harvey. He's totaled a 761-314 record in 17 seasons as an assistant coach and has lead the Carolina pitching staff to a top 50 earned run average in each of the last eight seasons.
Forbes does not have the familiarity with Auburn that Thompson has, but would be a good choice to run the program.
3. Mervyl Melendez
The Alabama State coach has an impressive 16 year career split between the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats and the Hornets. In 12 seasons coaching at Bethune-Cookman, the Wildcats only missed one regional in 2005 and won the MEAC regular season in every season with the exception of two. The ASU program has been completely turned around since Melendez's arrival in 2012, flipping from a 20-36 record team to 32-25 and 37-20 in the first three seasons.
Melendez turned down the head coaching job at the University of New Orleans this summer and has a lot of pull at ASU. An SEC program might have his eye, but it's questionable as to whether he'd leave ASU.
4. Mark Calvi
Calvi has been the head coach at South Alabama since 2012, which was the first head coaching job of his career. He spent 11 years at Florida International as the pitching coach before moving on to South Carolina in 2005, where he helped the Gamecocks to a national championship title in 2010. Calvi moved on to South Alabama, and in his second season, led the Jaguars to the 14th Sun Belt Conference championship and 25th NCAA Regional appearance after recording the program's first 40-plus win season since 2003.
Calvi also served a suspension for contact with an umpire last season, so it's good to know he'll stand up for his team - whatever it takes.
5. Travis Jewett
The Vanderbilt hitting coach and recruiting coordinator is entering his third season with the Commodores, after two of the most successful seasons in school history. Since his arrival, the Commodores have gone 105-33, winning the national championship in 2014. In 2 1/2 years, Jewett's hitters have drawn 671 walks with 313 doubles. Jewett is entering his 22 year of coaching, spending time around division one ball in top programs like Arizona State.
Jewett not only produces results with his aggressive approach to hitting, but his personality is easy to embrace and would fit in well on the Plains.
All of these personalities would fit the mold of Auburn coaches, where personal conduct is more relevant than other campuses. Nonetheless, this is an SEC job and there are only 14 of them. Someone good enough for a long standing at Auburn will bite.
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