Tulane Completes Baseball Staff

New assistant coach Sean Teague joins Green Wave from Georgia Southern; Mark Kingston named associate head coach in third season with program

Former Georgia Southern assistant and College World Series veteran Sean Teague has been announced as Tulane University baseball team’s new pitching coach and top assistant/recruiting coordinator Mark Kingston has been promoted to associate head coach, head coach Rick Jones announced Thursday.

Teague, a four-year veteran of the Georgia Southern coaching staff, brings a wealth of experience to The Big Easy as well as a list of impressive credentials which includes nationally-ranked pitching staffs and trips to the NCAA Regionals in three of his four seasons with the Eagles.

“We had a tremendous pool of applicants both from a quality and quantity standpoint, and Sean Teague is clearly at the top of that pool,” Jones said. “He’s shown the ability to develop pitchers with different abilities, and he’s well versed in all aspects of pitching. We felt it was extremely important that we have the absolute best coach possible to lead our young and talented pitching staff, and I am excited to have Sean join the Tulane program.”

During his four seasons in Statesboro, Ga., Teague helped the Eagles win regular-season or tournament titles every year. In the past three years, Teague’s staffs have ranked in the top five nationally in strikeouts and strikeouts per nine innings, including an NCAA-leading 591 Ks in 2003 prior to Regional play. Under Teague’s tutelage, GSU’s David Ray claimed Southern Conference Pitcher of the Year honors, and both Ray and Brett Lewis (2001) earned first-team All-SoCon recognition to mark the first time an Eagle hurler gained the distinction since 1997.

A native of Baton Rouge and a 1995 graduate of LSU, Teague was a member of the Tigers’ 1993 National Championship club and lettered for the 1994 team which made a return trip to the College World Series.

Following a stint in the private sector, Teague began his coaching career at his high school alma mater in 1996 where he spent one season as an assistant at Christian Life Academy where he helped the team go 29-5 and finish as the state’s AA runner-up.

Teague broke into the collegiate ranks in August 1998 when he joined the University of Georgia staff for a year as a graduate assistant before joining the Georgia Southern staff in August of 1999. Teague replaces former Green Wave All-American Chad Sutter, who left the Green Wave program to become the top assistant at UNLV.

Kingston, meanwhile, earns the promotion to associate head coach after two seasons as Tulane’s top assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. Since Kingston’s arrival prior to the 2002 season, the Green Wave have inked back-to-back nationally-ranked recruiting classes, including 2003 Freshmen All-Americans J.R. Crowel and Brian Bogusevic.

“Mark has proven his ability as a top recruiter along with being one of the nation’s finest hitting instructors,” Jones said. “This promotion is well deserved. I feel very strongly that he is the next in line to be a head coach at a major program.”

The 2002 fall signing class featured three of Baseball America’s Top 50 prospects as well as first-team High School All-American Mark Hamilton and second-teamer Phillip Stringer.

On the field, Kingston has been instrumental in the development of the Green Wave hitters that includes the last two Conference USA Players of the Year – James Jurries and Michael Aubrey. Both players hit over .400 during their award-winning seasons, with Jurries becoming the first Tulane player to reach the benchmark since 1985.