BRIAN ROUNTREE
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ASSISTANT COACH • 16TH SEASON SOUTH CAROLINA, 1990
www.LATechSports.com
57
COACHING STAFF
Brian Rountree is entering his 16th season at Louisiana Tech as the Bulldogs pitching coach. His 16 years of service is one of the longest tenures of all coaches currently working at the university behind only head track and field coach Gary Stanley and football assistant coaches Pete Perot and Ed Jackson. Despite facing numerous injuries throughout the 2010 campaign, a total of 17 Bulldogs made an appearance on the mound, led by a senior Jamey Bradshaw and a duo of underclassmen in Trevor Petersen and Mike Jefferson who combined to toss 218.1 innings while fanning 175 batters. The LA Tech pitching staff accrued four complete games on the season as starting pitchers tossed five-plus innings on 33 occasions. This past June, Mike Jefferson became Rountree’s latest prospect to grab the eyes of the major league scouts as he was selected by the New York Mets in the 46th round of the 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. In 2009 Rountree coached an extremely young pitching staff that had just one senior on the staff in two-time MLB draftee Dylan Moseley. However, the young staff still helped the Bulldogs to a 29-22 record on the season. In the process, three youngsters emerged as possible rising stars on the staff in true freshmen Jeb Stefan and Kyle Roliard, and redshirt freshman Mike Jefferson. Stefan led the team in strikeouts while recording a 4-5 record in 13 games started while Roliard piled up a 4-0 record with 17 appearances out of the bullpen. Jefferson led Tech with 25 appearances while totaling a 3-3 record on the year. Under Rountree’s guidance, 13 Bulldog pitchers have been drafted or signed free agent contracts with professional baseball teams in the last ten seasons, including Luke Burnett, Jericho Jones, Alan Knotts and Dylan Moseley in 2008. Burnett was selected and signed by the Seattle Mariners. Jones was selected and signed by the Chicago Cubs. Knotts was selected and signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Moseley opted to return to Tech for his senior year after being selected by the Cubs. Of the 12 players drafted, three pitchers were selected in the first 30 rounds of the 2001 draft for the first time in school history. In all, six players from Tech were drafted in 2008, the most in school history. Adam Cobb and Albie Goulder joined Burnett, Jones, Knotts and Moseley as major league draftees from the 2008 team. Rountree is now focused on the continued development of the young Bulldogs staff. In addition to handling the duties as pitching coach, Rountree is Tech’s recruiting coordinator. The Atlanta, Ga., native has recruited most of the players on Tech’s current roster and has built a solid reputation as a hardworking recruiter. “Coach Rountree brings a professional approach to recruit-
ing and handles himself in a professional way,” Tech head coach Wade Simoneaux said. “He does an excellent job of bringing in excellent talent to this university.” In 2007, the South Carolina graduate helped mold a staff that tied a five-year-old school record for most strikeouts in a season with 452 and had two all-Western Athletic Conference selections in Andrew Alsup (first team) and Moseley (second team). Rountree also helped lead Burnett to the WAC strikeout title as he fanned 115 batters on the season. Burnett’s opponent’s batting average was a miniscule .221, also a league-best. “Brian’s tireless efforts at recruiting have put our ballclub in a position to compete in this conference,” Simoneaux said. “Since I’ve been here, our recruits have gotten better and better. And he has developed many pitchers that were borderline college pitchers when they got here into possible draft choices.” His 2002 pitching staff posted Tech’s lowest team ERA since 1993 at 4.71 despite playing nine games versus teams that advanced to the College World Series. Rountree originally came to Tech from South Carolina in 1996 with former Tech head coach Randy Davis. Simoneaux is the third head coach that Rountree has worked with at the university. Prior to coming to Tech, Rountree spent four years as an assistant at the University of South Carolina. Rountree is a 1990 graduate of South Carolina with a degree in criminal justice. Rountree spent the summer of 2001 as the head coach of a collegiate summer league team in Thomasville, N.C. The team competed in the Coastal Plains League. Rountree played baseball at South Carolina and spent two years in the Detroit Tigers organization after college. One season was spent in the Rookie League with Bristol (Tenn.) and one season with Fayetteville (N.C) of the South Atlantic League, which completed the baseball playing career of the 6-4 right-hander. While in college, Rountree led the Gamecocks in starts and strikeouts as a junior and again as a senior. Rountree was the captain of the 1989 Gamecock squad that advanced to the NCAA Tournament in Miami, Fla. His 125 strikeouts in 1988 still rank as the seventh best single season total in USC history. Rountree recorded 13 wins in two years at South Carolina. He transferred to USC after a standout career at DeKalb Junior College in Georgia. While at DeKalb, Rountree earned All-America honors as a sophomore with a 12-1 mark and a 0.78 earned run average. He was also named 1987 Georgia Junior College Player of the Year. In high school, Rountree was a standout at North Clayton High School in Atlanta. He shattered the school mark for career wins with 26 and still holds most of the school’s career records. One of Rountree’s favorite aspects in coaching is building relationships with the players as they improve over time. “Watching players develop in our program on the field and in the classroom is a rewarding experience,” Rountree said. “I enjoy seeing our players set goals, work their plan and accomplish them.” Rountree is married to the former Kim Dupree of San Diego, Calif. and has two daughters, Caysee and Shelby Griffith.