The University of Houston announced today that Russell Stockton has been promoted to associate head coach after spending last season as an assistant coach with the Cougars. He spent the ten previous years as the head coach of Division 2 Texas A&M Kingsville where he is the all-time leader in wins at the school. You can check out the full press release below.
FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
HOUSTON – University of Houston head baseball coach Rayner Noble announced Monday that Russell Stockton was promoted to associate head coach.
"Russell hasn’t been here for a very long time but he has shown me the qualities of someone that I am very confident in and his abilities to take a task and make it his own," Noble said. "That’s why I wanted to elevate his title, so he will know how I feel about him."
With his new title, Stockton will play a larger role in recruiting and fundraising for the team in addition to continuing his coaching role with the offense.
"I have all the confidence in the world in him from a recruiting standpoint, to get out there and coordinate and get the type of talent in here to make a move back up the ladder," Noble said.
"He is also a very good teacher, which is why I have put him in charge of the offense, with the teaching of the skills and all the things that are going to be necessary on game day. I will still run the offense on game day but he is going to be in charge of getting the pieces together for when that time comes."
Stockton completed his first season with the Cougars last year, playing a large part in the success of pitchers Donnie Joseph and Jared Ray, both whom were named to All-Conference USA First and Second Teams, respectively.
"He was very instrumental in Jared Ray making the strides that he did last season and helping Donnie Joseph from more of a mental aspect of the game," Noble said.
In addition associate athletics director and the baseball program’s administrator Kevin Fite believes this promotion is a direct result of Stockton’s dedication and commitment to the baseball program.
"This promotion reflects the Athletic Department’s confidence in Russell’s ability to impact progress in multiple aspects of our baseball program," Fite said. "His leadership will continue to be an important element in the development of our baseball student-athletes and the future success of our baseball team."
Stockton was named an assistant coach at Houston on July 7, 2008. Prior to coming to UH, he spent 10 seasons as head coach at Texas A&M-Kingsville, where he remains the program’s winningest coach. He also served as head coach at Cedar Valley College in Lancaster, Texas.
Before his stint at Cedar Valley College, Stockton served as the president and head coach at the Bragg Stockton Skills and Drills Baseball Camp. He also was a Cougar letterwinner from 1988-1991 playing under his father, former head coach, Bragg Stockton.
