MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama baseball head coach Mark Calvi announced the addition of Brad Phillips as assistant coach to his staff on Thursday.

Phillips, who will handle pitchers, joins the Jaguar program after spending the previous eight seasons at Troy. During his tenure with the Trojans, Phillips coached two Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year recipients, one SBC Freshman of the Year and one SBC Newcomer of the Year.

The Troy pitching staff ranked third in the SBC in ERA (3.79) in 2016, earning Phillips the Alabama Baseball Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year award. In 2013, the Trojan pitching staff ranked fifth nationally in strikeouts per nine innings (8.6). 

Phillips joined the Troy staff in 2010 after serving as head coach at both Niceville (Fla.) High School and Charles Henderson (Ala.) High School, and helped lead CHHS to four straight Alabama High School Athletic Association playoff appearances and was named the AHSAA Class 5A Region 2 Coach of the Year four consecutive times as well as the Dothan Eagle Super 12 Coach of the Year in 2008. He helped NHS to back-to-back playoff appearances during his tenure there, and was named the 2009 Northwest Daily News Coach of the Year. 

The Hazel Green, Ala., native played collegiately at Gadsden State (Ala.) Community College and the University of Montevallo before earning his degree at Troy in 2004. He also served as a volunteer assistant at Troy in the 2003-04 seasons.

"Brad (Phillips) has been an assistant (coach) at a very successful program, and he has had a lot of success," Calvi said. "I have had a chance to admire his work the last eight years being here at South Alabama. His pitching staffs were always well-prepared, and those guys went into that program and got better. I was impressed with the level of development and preparedness that those guys had at all times; that's pretty much what stood out to me. Brad's done a great job recruiting in this area, as well as coaching his players. 

"The fact that we have been in the same state and at rival programs the past eight years, I have had a chance to see his work up close every year playing those guys and seeing their success from a program standpoint. I've seen how diligent Brad is on the recruiting side of it, and I was just impressed with the type of guys he recruited and the areas he was recruiting in along with the coaching on the field. His pitching staffs executed at a high level, and that has caught my eye for a long time. I got a chance to know Brad personally on the recruiting trail; not only did we play against each other, but he is a friend as well. I've spent a lot of time with him both on and off the field, so as a person Brad is as good of a guy as you will find along with work ethic and creating a good experience for our student-athletes. Brad just fit that mold. To me, it was just a great fit – his type of personality, and the type of person and coach that he is makes a great fit here with our program."

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