North Florida Hires Tim Parenton To Replace Smoke Laval As Coach

Tim Parenton, a manager in the Rays system for the past three seasons, was named head coach at North Florida on Monday. The move returns Parenton to UNF, where he was an assistant coach from 2010-2013.

Parenton spent his three years with the Rays as the manager of short-season Hudson Valley in the New York-Penn League. He also coordinated extended spring training for the club.

While Parenton comes to UNF from the ranks of pro ball, he has had a long career in college baseball. He was head coach at Samford from 1998-2004, going 143-241. He was twice an assistant coach in the Southeastern Conference, serving as hitting coach at Florida under Pat McMahon from 2004-06 and spending 1996-97 on staff at Mississippi State, his alma mater.

UNF athletic director Lee Moon said in a statement Parenton brings a track record for success at every level.

“Tim is very familiar with recruiting in the state of Florida and has been a huge part of both finding and developing players during his career,” Moon said. “I believe that he is the perfect fit for our program as well as the University and am looking forward to the things he will accomplish.”

Parenton replaces Smoke Laval, who was fired last week after seven seasons at UNF. The Ospreys went 237-160 during his tenure.

2017 COACHING CHANGES
School	Departures	Arrivals
Alabama	Greg Goff	Brad Bohannon
Cincinnati	Ty Neal
Citadel	Fred Jordan
Dayton	Tony Vittorio
Incarnate Word	Danny Heep
La Salle	Mike Lake
Massachusetts	Mike Stone	Matt Reynolds
North Florida	Smoke Laval	Tim Parenton
Santa Clara	Dan O’Brien
Southern	Roger Cador
Stanford	Mark Marquess (retiring after season)
Tennessee	Dave Serrano
Texas-Rio Grande Valley	Manny Mantrana
Towson	Mike Gottlieb
Virginia Tech	Patrick Mason