Coach John Bates was named the Head Baseball Coach at Rust College in 2021. Prior to becoming head coach, he served as volunteer assistant coach the past 3 years. He was a 6th grade Special Education teacher for a year and then, he worked as Admissions Recruiter at Rust College the last 2 years.
While serving as assistant coach he help with field renovations, and player development. He assisted in the administration of baseball operations, infield instruction and coaching 3rd base. He supervised team study hall sessions, Bi-weekly progress reports and enforced academic discipline. As a result the team maintained high academic standards. Their Team G.P.A. was 3.0 with an 80% graduation rate and 12 players named to Academic Team.
This past season, Bates coached Rust Bearcats to a second straight HBCU Black College World Series appearance. In this podcast Coach Bates talks about his baseball program, going undefeated in conference play this past season, his passion for the program, the Black College World Series experience, and what the future holds for Bearcat baseball.
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