Scott Stricklin joins the Tom Sox as an Assistant Coach for the 2024 season. Most recently, Stricklin served ten seasons as the head coach at the University of Georgia, where he led the Bulldogs to three NCAA Regional appearances and a 299-236-1 record from 2014-23. Stricklin sees the Tom Sox as a good way to get back into coaching, while coaching alongside his friend Randy Tomlin:

“When [the Tom Sox] called me and asked if I wanted to coach this summer, it took me off guard, but I immediately said yes. It wasn’t something I really had to think about and it’s a really good place to spend the summer, as well as an opportunity for me to get back on the field and coach.”

Throughout his ten seasons at Georgia, Stricklin revitalized the program, leading the Bulldogs back to the SEC Tournament for the first time in two years and winning a top-10 series for the first time in three. Georgia captured top-10 national rankings in 2020 and 2021, alongside hosting an NCAA Regional for the first time in a decade in 2018 and following that up with a second-straight host in 2019.  During the 2019 season, Georgia won 42 games – the fourth-most in school history – while placing two players on all major All-America lists. Additionally, Stricklin led the $12 million renovation effort of Foley Field, capturing the support of Hall of Fame alumni such as John Smoltz, Phil Niekro, and Chipper Jones. 38 total Bulldogs were drafted across Stricklin’s ten seasons, including a pair of first rounders in Emerson Hancock (2020) and Robert Tyler (2016).

Prior to his time at Georgia, Stricklin spent nine seasons as the Head Coach at his alma mater, Kent State. Stricklin led the Golden Flashes to five NCAA regionals, five MAC Tournament championships, and four MAC regular season titles. In 2012, he took Kent State to their first College World Series in program history, defeating 1-seed Florida before falling to eventual finalist South Carolina. 30 KSU players were selected in the MLB draft during his nine seasons and the team registered a perfect 1,000 score in the NCAA’s APR report from 2010-12, one of only 16 schools in the nation with such accomplishment.

Stricklin began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant at Georgia Tech under his former Kent State coach Danny Hall for two seasons and later returned as a full-time assistant from 2002-2004. In between the two stints, Stricklin served as an assistant under Roy Mewbourne at Vanderbilt.

Stricklin played three seasons as a catcher at Kent State, where he was a two-time All-Conference selection and caught a pair of staffs that ranked among the best ERAs in the nation. He was drafted in the 23^rd round by the Twins in 1993 and spent five seasons in the Twins, Braves, and Devil Rays systems before beginning his coaching career.

Stricklin is joined by his wife Cheri and has three kids: Sydney, Keaton, and Kale, a sophomore catcher at Auburn who will join his father in Charlottesville this summer.