Miami's Kingston Added to Tulane Baseball Staff
Jul 18, 2001 | Baseball
July 18, 2001
NEW ORLEANS -- Mark Kingston, a five-year coaching veteran who spent the last two seasons coaching the hitters and catchers for the national champion Miami Hurricanes, has joined the Tulane baseball program as assistant coach, Green Wave head coach Rick Jones announced Wednesday. In addition, graduate assistant coach Chad Sutter, Tulane's all-time leader in home runs and RBI, has been elevated to assistant coach and will work with the Green Wave pitchers.
"I don't think I could have filled the void left by Schloss (Jim Schlossnagle) and Buddy (Gouldsmith) any better than with the two guys we hired in Mark Kingston and Chad Sutter," Jones said. "Mark Kingston brings a tremendous r?sum? and he is the right fit as the recruiting coordinator and hitting coach for Tulane Baseball. Chad Sutter's move to pitching coach will be a great benefit to our pitchers and he will also be heavily involved in recruiting. I expect both of them to be major assets to Tulane and I believe we'll continue to build on the momentum from our success of 2001."
Kingston's duties at Tulane will include serving as the program's recruiting coordinator as well as hitting coach. A former infielder at North Carolina who helped the Tar Heels to an ACC Championship and to the College World Series in 1989, Kingston served as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Purdue (1996-98) and Illinois State (1999) before going to Miami. He also spent five years in professional baseball in the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs organizations.
"The opportunity to come to Tulane as recruiting coordinator was one I could not pass up," Kingston said. "The combination of elite athletics with elite academics is one that is very rare. The coaching staff here has done a tremendous job of putting Tulane at the top level of college baseball and I look forward to continuing that."
The 1999 Conference USA Player of the Year and an All-American catcher that season, Sutter rejoined the Green Wave program last year as a graduate assistant coach after one season in the New York Yankees farm system. He will take over as pitching coach for the Green Wave after coaching first base, tutoring the catchers and assisting with the hitters last season.
"I'm excited to be able to take the next step in my coaching career at Tulane," Sutter said. "I've been around pitchers all my life and feel comfortable taking on the challenge of working with our pitchers. I'm also ready to become more involved in recruiting as we build on the success of the past year."
Kingston takes over for Jim Schlossnagle, who accepted the head coaching job at UNLV. Sutter moves into the spot vacated by Buddy Gouldsmith, who joined Schlossnagle in Las Vegas. Jones will fill one more spot in his staff later this summer with an assistant coach who will serve as first base coach, will coach baserunners and assist with the Green Wave hitters, and will be camp director for the Tulane University/Rick Jones Baseball Camps.
Tulane completed its most successful baseball season ever in 2001 with a 56-13 win and its first trip to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. A pair of players earned All-America honors and third baseman Jake Gautreau was selected in the first round of the 2001 Major League Baseball draft by the San Diego Padres.
