FIU Hires Alabama State’s Melendez As Coach

Mervyl Melendez on Tuesday resigned as coach at Alabama State—which he took to the NCAA tournament for the first time—to become coach at Florida International.

“We thank Coach Melendez for all he has contributed and achieved at Alabama State University,” Alabama State athletic director Melvin Hines said in a news release. “He made Hornets’ baseball a household name in Montgomery, expanded the reach of ASU in the region, made the program the best in the SWAC, and put the Hornets’ baseball brand on the map nationally. We wish him and his family all the best in their future endeavors.”

In five seasons at ASU after coming over from Bethune-Cookman, Melendez went 158-117. He guided the Hornets to the best season in school history this spring. They went 38-17, setting a school record for wins, and became the first team in Southwestern Athletic Conference history to go undefeated in league play, finishing 24-0. Alabama State swept through the conference tournament to reach regionals for the first time ever. The Hornets season ended in the Tallahassee Regional, where they went 0-2.

At FIU, Melendez is replacing Turtle Thomas, who stepped down June 15. The Panthers finished 29-29 this past season under Thomas, who was 282-242-1 in nine years at FIU.

2016 COACHING CHANGES
School	Departures	Arrivals
Alabama	Mitch Gaspard	Greg Goff
Alabama State	Mervyl Melendez
Appalachian State	Billy Jones
Army	Matt Reid	Jim Foster
Butler	Steve Farley
Florida International	Turtle Thomas	Mervyl Melendez
Furman	Ron Smith
Jacksonville	Tim Montez	Chris Hayes
Kentucky	Gary Henderson	Nick Mingione
Lamar	Jim Gilligan (ret.)	Will Davis
Liberty	Jim Toman
Louisiana Tech	Greg Goff	Lane Burroughs
Missouri	Tim Jamieson
Northwestern State	Lane Burroughs	Bobby Barbier
Purdue	Doug Schreiber	Mark Wasikowski
San Jose State	Dave Nakama
SIU-Edwardsville	Tony Stoecklin	Sean Lyons
Texas	Augie Garrido
Villanova	Joe Godri
Youngstown State	Steve Gillispie	Dan Bertolini