Link Jarrett enters his first season as the head baseball coach
at UNCG. Jarrett, a two-time Assistant Coach of the Year award
winner and offensive mastermind, brings 13 years of coaching
experience to the program, including stops at Flagler, Mercer,
Florida State, East Carolina and Auburn.
Jarrett has spent the past three seasons as the assistant
coach/director of player development at Auburn for coach John
Pawlowski. During his time at Auburn, the Tigers averaged 34 wins
per season and advanced to the Southeastern Conference Tournament
all three years becoming just one of five SEC schools to accomplish
that task. Under his guidance, the Tigers have seen 19 players
selected, 11 of which have been position players, in the Major
League Baseball Draft in three seasons.
Jarrett was named SEC Assistant Coach of the Year by
SEBaseball.com in 2010 as he helped the Tigers post a 43-17 overall
record and capture the SEC West Division championship. Auburn
advanced to the NCAA Tournament and hosted the NCAA Regional where
is posted a .349 team batting average in the postseason.
Jarrett was in charge of the team’s offense and helped the
Tigers set school records for batting average (.348), home runs
(131) and slugging percentage (.591), the latter two both national
bests in NCAA Division I baseball. Auburn’s 816 hits, 584
runs and 9.1 runs per game also finished in the top 10 in the
nation and led the SEC as did the team’s on-base percentage
(.423), RBI (549) and total bases (1385). Additionally, Hunter
Morris was name SEC Player of the Year in 2010.
Last season, Jarrett helped Auburn posted a 31-28 record while
leading the SEC in batting average (.304), on-base percentage
(.386), triples (19), stolen bases (113) and stolen base attempts
(151). The Tigers had four players drafted in the MLB Draft while
also seeing six signees selected. Auburn led the league in
conference play in batting average, hits, doubles, slugging
percentage, on-base percentage and total bases.
Prior to Auburn, Jarrett spent four seasons as the hitting
instructor and recruiting coordinator at East Carolina under head
coach Billy Godwin. He helped the Pirates advance to the NCAA
Tournament his last three years while averaging 40.2 wins per
season with a .639 winning percentage. He led East Carolina to a
46-20 record in his final year in Greenville in 2009, guiding the
Pirates to a NCAA Regional host and championship with an NCAA Super
Regional appearance in Chapel Hill. East Carolina also collected
the 2009 Conference USA regular season title.
Jarrett was named the Conference USA Assistant Coach of the Year
by SEBaseball.com for his work in 2009. He helped the Pirates
become of the most prolific offenses in the country, finishing with
a NCAA-best 814 hits, while placing fourth in runs scored (565),
sixth in doubles (154), seventh in home runs (108), 12th
in slugging percentage (.546) and 15th in batting
average. East Carolina also led Conference USA in on-base
percentage (.415), RBI (523), total bases (1310) and fielding
percentage (.971). He helped recruit Conference USA Newcomer of the
Year Chris Heston and All-Freshman Team selection Kevin
Brandt.
In 2008, East Carolina posted a 42-21 record with finishing as
runner-up in the Coastal Carolina Regional. The Pirates led
Conference USA in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base
percentage, runs, hits, RBI, home runs, total bases and walks. East
Carolina advanced to the NCAA Regional in 2007 with a 40-23 record
as it led the league in home runs while finishing third in batting
average e, slugging percentage, on-base percentage and RBI. Also,
he recruited Conference USA Player of the Year Corey Kemp, Freshman
of the Year Seth Maness, Newcomer of the Year Justin Bristow and
All-Freshman Team member Dustin Harrington.
Prior to East Carolina, Jarrett spent two seasons at Mercer as the
recruiting coordinator, helping the team double its win total in
his first season (2004), and then topping that with the
team’s first winning record since 1999 with a 28-26 mark
during the 2005 campaign.
Jarrett spent the 2003 regular season at his alma mater, helping
Florida State to a 54-13-1 record and a Super Regional berth as
well as an ACC regular season championship.
Jarrett began his coaching career at Flagler College in St.
Augustine, Fla., in 1999. Over the course of three seasons, Flagler
established school records in batting average, hits, doubles,
fielding percentage, ERA and double plays while posting a 108-63
record (.632), with a 40-win season in 2001 and a No. 5 national
ranking.
Jarrett was the starting shortstop on three College World Series
teams at Florida State in 1991, 1992 and 1994. He earned NCBWA
All-America honors as a junior and senior and still holds the NCAA
record for career assists with 802. He also holds the FSU records
for consecutive games played (235) and at-bats (989).
Jarrett was the 22nd round pick of the Colorado Rockies
in the 1994 MLB Draft. He was voted the Most Spectacular Defensive
Player in the organization in 1994 while playing for the Bend
(Ore.) Rockies in Single-A and then hit .303 for the New Haven
Ravens (AA) in 1997.
Jarrett earned a bachelor’s degree in communication with a
minor in psychology from Florida State in 1994. He and his wife
Jennifer, have two children, J.T. (13) and Dawson (10).
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