 | HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Scott Berry, the school’s all-time winningest coach in Southern Miss baseball history, announced Tuesday that he will retire from coaching following the end of the 2023 season.
Berry, 60, has guided the Golden Eagles for the last 14 seasons and has been a part of the program for 23 years, joining the staff as an assistant coach under Coach Corky Palmer for the 2001 campaign. He is one of only four coaches to lead the Golden Eagle program since the 1959 campaign.
The Neosho, Mo., native, and four-time Conference USA Coach of the Year, has led the Golden Eagles to five regular season conference crowns, four league tournament titles and eight NCAA Tournament berths, including two regional hosting and one super regional hosting opportunities.
The Golden Eagle program has currently produced more consecutive 40-plus win seasons than any other Division I program with six, and with Ole Miss and Florida State failing to reach 30 wins this spring, will have the most consecutive 30-plus win seasons at 21.
Berry surpassed Hill Denson last season as the school’s all-time winningest baseball coach, and entering his final regular-season series with Louisiana, compiled a 517-271-1 record over his time with the program.
Other items of note for Berry include having had 14 different players earning All-America honors and 28 players taken in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. During his time, Matt Wallner earned National Freshman of the Year honors in 2017 and Nick Sandlin was the Nation’s Pitcher of the Year in 2018 by Perfect Game. Berry has coached four Ferriss Trophy winners honoring the top collegiate player in the state of Mississippi and oversaw the C-USA Assistant Coach of the Year winner four times.
During his tenure, he also produced 36 first-team all-conference selections.
Following the season, the Department of Athletics will hold a retirement reception in Berry’s honor and fans will be invited to congratulate him for his contributions to not only Golden Eagle baseball, but the University of Southern Mississippi as a whole.
This Friday’s game against Louisiana has been dubbed “Scott Berry Night” as he and his family will be honored prior to the game.
A search for Berry’s successor is already underway and that person should be named in the near future.
The following is a message from Coach Scott Berry to the fans of Golden Eagle baseball:
To the Southern Miss Faithful,
I could coach baseball forever; however, life continues to remind me our time is precious.
For the past 23 years, it has been my honor to work at The University of Southern Mississippi. The 2023 baseball season will be my final season as Head Baseball Coach. Our program has a solid foundation for this transition in leadership. I am sincerely grateful and humbled by your support for me and this program. Throughout my career, I have recognized that no one can do anything alone. I am grateful to all the staff, players, coaches, and Administrations for everything they have done to build our program.
I want to thank my family publicly. Laura, Kathryn Grace, Garren, and his wife, Macie, have sacrificed and arranged their schedules for mine. When my daughter was little, I was working on the baseball field, and she asked me if this was my garden. Over the years, I have often reflected on her profound, innocent observation of my coaching career.
Yes, Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field has been my garden. Hopefully, you will agree we have grown and tended to many young lives and have thoroughly enjoyed a game that is truly America’s and SMTTT’s favorite pastime. Every walk has an end, and each step makes a memory. Thank you, God, for everything; I will hold your word in my heart.
Thank you, Southern Miss Faithful; it has been a blessing to me to serve as your Baseball Coach.
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