John Bates, formerly of Lane College and Marcus Smith, formerly of LeMoyne Owen College are no longer head coaches with their baseball programs. Reports are that Bates was let go, while Smith stepped down from LeMoyne Owen.
John Bates was the interim head coach at Lane College in 2017 where he led the team to a nine win season, the most wins since the 1986 team won 10 games and more games than Dragon teams have won in the previous five years. Under Bates, Lane improved in six hitting categories, including tops in the SIAC conference in nine offensive categories. He also lowered the pitching earned run average. This past 2018 season, Lane made the conference tournament.
Marcus Smith was no stranger to the SIAC. A graduate of Albany State University, Smith served as an assistant baseball coach in 2013 for LeMoyne Owen, as an assistant baseball coach at Morehouse College during the 2014 and 2015 before becoming LeMoyne Owen head coach in 2015. At the helm of LOC, he led the team to the conference championship in 2017 and was named the Coach of the Year for the tournament.
Reports, rumors and rumblings I’m hearing regarding the Lane and LeMoyen Owen head coaching positions include Wiley College assistant baseball coach Corben Green, who played at NCAA Division I Louisiana-Monroe from 2010 to 2012.