Jerry Meyers, the 2006 CAA Coach of the Year, begins his sixth year as the head coach of the Monarchs. He also served as pitching coach with the 2008 USA National Team staff that won a gold medal in the FISU World Championships in Europe with a 24-0 record, while compiling a 0.88 earned run average.
The 2010 Monarchs turned the first triple play in school history against 29th ranked Elon while starter Kyle Hald became the third Monarchs under Meyers to lead the CAA in strikeouts.
In 2009, three Monarch newcomers earned CAA All-Rookie honors, including Brett Harris, the CAA Rookie of the Year. He is the second Monarch under Meyers to earn this honor. ODU tied for fourth in the CAA.
In 2008, four Monarch pitchers were selected in the Major League Baseball draft, two Dan Hudson in the fifth and Anthony Shawler in the ninth were picked in the first 10 rounds. Two Monarchs earned honors in the classroom as senior homerun leader David Burns was named second team CoSIDA Academic All-District, and Ryan Bergh, who was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies was named recipient of the prestigiious Wilkins-Howard Memorial award as the Male Scholar Athlete of the Year as he graduated with a 3.57 grade point average.
In 2007, ODU compiled a 35-24 record and was the top seed in the CAA tournament and co-regular season champions. ODU's pitching staff again top the CAA with a 3.97 ERA and 471 strikeouts.
Meyers was awarded the 2006 Collegiate Coach of the Year from the Mid-Atlantic Major League Baseball Scouts Association. ODU enjoyed one of the nation's biggest turnarounds after going 39-17 and finishing second in the CAA. ODU climbed back into the national top 15 for the first time since the mid 1980's.
The 2006 Monarch team broke or tied eight school and individual records. The pitching staff compiled a 3.79 ERA, which is the lowest and first sub 4.00 mark since 1995. ODU broke the school strikeout mark with 511 punch-outs in 512.2 innings and tossed six shutouts. For the first time since 1998, the Monarchs hit over 300 at .302. ODU ranked as high as 15th nationally.
Prior to returning to ODU, Meyers served as an assistant coach at the University of South Carolina for eight years and helped guide the Gamecocks to World Series appearances three straight seasons (2002-04), including the National Championship game in 2002 as pitching coach.
In 2006, four Monarchs were selected in the baseball draft. Jason Godin was selected in the fifth round by Kansas City, Patrick Nichols was selected in the 16th round by Washington, Kevin Gunter was selected in the 13th round by Colorado and Dana Arrowood was selected in the 39th round by Detroit.
In 2005, three Monarchs were drafted, including two pitchers. James Burok was selected in the eighth round by Colorado and also earned CoSIDA Academic All- American honors.
Widely regarded as one of the top pitching coaches in college baseball, Meyers' South Carolina pitching staff compiled a 53-17 record as the Gamecocks captured the 2004 Southeastern Conference Tournament Championship, NCAA Regional and Super Regional Championships, and took a third place finish at the College World Series. The Gamecocks also reached the World Series Championship game in 2002, compiling a 57-18 Record.
In eight seasons with Meyers coaching the Gamecock pitchers, the program won more games than any other team in the country over a five year period (1999-2004). The Gamecocks won two Southeastern Conference championships and two SEC Eastern Division titles four of his last six years.
Meyers helped guide the University of South Carolina to a second place finish in the SEC, a national rank of third, and an NCAA Regional bid in 1998. In 1999, South Carolina won the SEC Eastern Championship. In 2000, the Gamecocks were a unanimous number one in the final six weeks of the regular season, and were the number one seed in the NCAA Regional championship. South Carolina won the 2001 NCAA Regional title, then captured the NCAA regional title and Super Regional Championships the next three years.
A Meyers coached pitcher has been a first team All-American from 2000-04, and 18 of his pitchers have signed professional contracts. Including stints at other schools, Meyers has coached 34 collegiate pitchers who have played professional baseball. Meyers was no stranger to the ODU program, having served as an assistant in 1996 when the Monarchs captured their third straight CAA title and advanced to the NCAA Atlantic Regional. His pitching staff established a school record of 426 strikeouts which stood until 2004.
Prior to his first stint at ODU, Meyers spent four years as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington where he worked with pitchers and catchers. The 1995 Seahawk staff ranked 11th nationally in earned run average at 3.37 with two pitchers ranked among the nation's top 15 in strikeouts per nine innings. He also coached at Gulf Coast Community College in Panama City, FL., from 1989-91.
Meyers was a four-year starting pitcher at Iowa State University where he was named to the All-Big Eight Conference team as a senior. He was the team captain as a junior and senior and was named the team's Most Valuable pitcher his senior year.
Meyers received a bachelor of business administration degree in management from Iowa State and the master of education in physical education from South Alabama in 1989 with an emphasis in exercise and movement technology. Meyers and his wife Chris have two daughters, Jaye Riley, and Audrey Reese.
First Collegiate win: Feb. 11, 2005 vs Radford (6-2)
100th Win: March 2, 2008 vs Temple (12-0)
MEYERS AT ODU 2005 22-33 2006 39-17 Second in CAA regular season 2007 35-24 CAA Co-Regular season Champions 2008 25-27 2009 22-27 2010 24-30 TLS 167-158
MEYERS AS AN ASSISTANT COACH AT SOUTH CAROLINA 1997 33-24 1998 44-18 NCAA Regional 1999 35-23 SEC East Champions 2000 56-10 NCAA Super Regional 2001 49-20 NCAA Super Regional 2002 57-18 CWS (2nd) 2003 45-22 CWS (6th) 2004 53-17 CWS (3rd)
SEC East Titles 1999 2000 2002 2003
SEC Championships 2000 2002 2004
MEYERS AS AN ASSISTANT AT ODU 1996 39-17 CAA Champions & NCAA Regional
MEYERS AS AN ASSISTANT COACH AT UNCW 1992 23-38 1993 26-29 1994 30-28 1995 30-25