The LeMoyne-Owen College Athletic Department has named Patrick Newman as the Magicians head coach of its baseball program. Newman replaced former coach Marcus Smith who resigned at the conclusion of the 2018 season, thus opening the door for Coach Newman’s hire.
Newman is familiar with Historically Black College and University (HBCU) baseball programs. As a freshman, he played for Lemoyne-Owens during the 2000 season before transferring to the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff (UAPB) in 2001 were he was a pitcher for three years. Newman hails from Memphis, Tennessee and had a 40-game hitting streak in high school before following his father’s footsteps to Lemoyne-Owens.
Newman began coaching after his collegiate playing days under UAPB head coach Carlos James as an assistant for the Golden Lions. He spent nine years coaching high school baseball before accepting his first collegiate head coaching position with the Magicians.
Johnny Rude who served two tenures as the head baseball coach was hired as an assistant. The program will also retain both assistant coaches Kennard Clark and Arvis Clark to help in the baseball transition. Mario Jackson, a graduate of Lemoyne-Owens and former player from 1998-2003, who last played on the team that won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) Division title, was added to the coaching staff.
Newman will build the program from within the local level changing the culture through recruiting. To play ball at Lemoyne-Owens College “student athletes must be sound academically. We are looking to push baseball into the best academic program in the SIAC.” Newman also stated “we will not look for the school to assist with funding more towards outside resources” to level the playing fields against top notch NCAA Division II opponents as well as from within the conference. His ties to local area businesses, those resources is helping to construct a new baseball field which is in progress and the hope is the field will be ready by the start of the 2019 season.