Eric Coleman
has been named Manager and Director of Player Development for
Baseball Heroes of Oakland County, LP, signing a two-year
contract with the Michigan-based partnership which will have him
piloting the Midwest Sliders for the 2008 Frontier League season
and Oakland County Cruisers in 2009 when the team's 3,954-seat
ball park opens in Waterford, MI.
The announcement was
made by Rob Hilliard, president and director of team personnel
for the '08 Sliders and '09 Cruisers.
Coleman comes to the
organization with a 14-year collegiate coaching resume which last
placed him at Niagara University, where he was pitching coach and
recruiting coordinator. Previously, he served in the same
capacities at Diablo Valley College and San Diego Mesa College.
Coleman began his coaching career at San Jose City College,
working with eight JUCO All-Americans and placing numerous
student-athletes at Division 1 programs such as Cal State
Fullerton, Long Beach State, UC Irvine, South Carolina and
Tennessee.
An eight-year veteran of the summer collegiate
wood-bat wars, Coleman has managed in the Northwoods League,
Texas Collegiate League, Coastal Plains League and Western
(Canada) Major Baseball League. Each summer saw him help lead his
team to the playoffs. In 2007, Coleman managed his Okotoks Dawsgs
to the WMBL championship.
Coleman is a native of San Jose,
CA, and now resides in North Las Vegas, NV. He pitched at
Cal-State Hayward and received his bachelor's degree in
Communication.
COACHING STAFF NAMED
Cory Domel and
Chris Barney have been named as assistant coaches by Manager
Coleman. Both Domel and Barney have also signed two-year
contracts with Baseball Heroes.
Domel, who will serve as
Assistant Coach-Pitching, is currently the pitching coach and
recruiting coordinator at NCAA Div. 2 Flagler College in St.
Augustine, FL. He served in the same capacities with Div. 1
University of Maine in Orono. Previously, Domel spent four years
at College of Lake County in Grayslake, IL, the last two as head
coach. His 2005 club was NJCAA Sectional Champion.
Domel
served as pitching coach for the Vermont Mountaineers of the New
England Collegiate Baseball League, whose 2004 club qualified for
the playoffs and 2005 club won the Northern Division
championship. He was assistant coach for the Anchorage Glacier
Pilots in 2007 when the club was Mayors Cup Champion.
A
graduate of Western Illinois University, Domel currently resides
in St. Augustine, FL.
Barney, who will serve as Assistant
Coach-Hitting, is currently the assistant coach at St. Johns
River Community College (FL) after spending 13 years as assistant
coach and recruiting coordinator at Div. 2 University of Southern
Indiana. During that time, he coached 28 All-GLVC players and
five All-Americans. Barney began his collegiate coaching career
in 1989 as assistant coach at Tennessee Wesleyan College and then
as assistant coach at Tusculum College (TN).
A native of
Cocoa Beach, FL, and current resident of St. Augustine, FL,
Barney received his B.S. in Management from Tennessee Wesleyan
College.