FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech head baseball coach Tim Tadlock has completed his first coaching staff with the addition of Russell Raley as volunteer assistant coach.
Raley, 28, will serve as the Red Raiders hitting coach and first base coach while also working with the team’s infielders and outfielders.
Tadlock and Raley spent several years together at Oklahoma where Raley was a three-time All-Big 12 infielder and also spent four years as the program’s volunteer assistant coach.
“Russell is one of the best young coaches on the field that I have been around,” Tadlock said. “He brings an understanding of how to help young hitters grown and make adjustments in the course of a game or an at-bat. His experience in college baseball as a player and coach will be a great asset in the careers of our hitters.
“He comes from a great baseball family in South Texas and through my experience with him I have no doubt he will be a great addition to our staff and the Texas Tech family.”
Raley assisted Tadlock at Oklahoma with the team’s hitting responsibilities for four seasons (2008-11) and was the Sooners first base coach. In 2010 he helped lead the Sooners to the College World Series.
“I’m extremely excited for the opportunity to work with Coach Tadlock, the tremendous coaching staff he has assembled as well as the baseball support staff,” Raley said. “My wife and I are excited about being a part of the Texas Tech University family and about joining the Lubbock community. It feels great to be back in the state of Texas.”
Raley served two and a half months as the assistant coach at Oklahoma Christian (hired in May 2012) before accepting the opportunity to join Tadlock’s staff at Tech. In his brief time with the Eagles (NCAA D-II), Raley led recruiting efforts that signed over 20 players to the Oklahoma Christian program.
Following a two-year professional playing career in the New York Yankees organization, Raley joined the Oklahoma coaching staff where he spent four seasons working with Tadlock and the Sooners hitters.
Raley helped guide the Sooners to 170 wins (averaged 42.5 wins per season) while ranking in the top three in the Big 12 standings in all but one campaign. The Sooners batted at least .307 all four years and led the Big 12 in 14 offensive statistical categories, including batting average in 2011, doubles in 2008 and 2009 and leading the league in base hits and home runs in back-to-back years (2009 and 2010).
In fact, Oklahoma led the Big 12 in runs scored during the final three years Raley was on the Sooners coaching staff.
During Raley’s coaching tenure at Oklahoma, the Sooners advanced to four consecutive NCAA Regionals, including the 2010 Charlottesville Super Regional and the College World Series. It marked OU’s first appearance at the CWS in Omaha since 1995.
Raley also had a successful coaching stint in the Alaska Baseball League spending 2009 and 2010 as the head coach of the Mat-Su Miners. He led the Miners to back-to-back league championships while earning coach of the year honors following both seasons.
Raley had a two-year professional playing career with the Yankees farm system playing second base, shortstop and third base. After being selected in the 21st round of the 2006 Major League Baseball First-Year Players Draft, Raley played 43 games in Single-A and Double-A while batting .264 with nine doubles and 17 RBI in his pro career.
He was one of the top players in the Big 12 Conference during his collegiate playing career at Oklahoma from 2003-2006. He was a three-time All-Big 12 selection while earning first team recognition in 2004 and second team honors in 2005 and 2006.
Raley ranked among the top infielders in the conference as a senior with a .965 fielding percentage while leading the Sooners to the top fielding percentage in the country with a .983 clip in 2006.
He played in 208 career games at Oklahoma (191 starts) with a .314 batting average, 237 hits, 143 runs, 27 doubles and 103 RBI. He remains in three OU all-time career record books, including seventh in at-bats (754), eighth in games played (208) and 10th in base hits (237).
Raley was a mainstay in the Oklahoma starting lineup. He put together one of the longest consecutive games starting streaks during his collegiate career while starting in 111 straight games from 2003-2005.
His final season he was named to the NCAA All-Region team at the Norman Regional (2B).
He helped lead Oklahoma to 141 wins during his four-year career. In addition, Raley played for Texas Tech pitching coach Ray Hayward during his first two seasons in Norman when Hayward served as Oklahoma’s pitching coach.
Raley graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma in 2007 with a degree in human relations. He is originally from Uvalde, Texas, and graduated from Uvalde High School in 2002. Russell and his wife, Chelsey, were married in August 2011. Raley was born on December 30, 1983, in San Antonio, Texas.
Raley’s family is no stranger to the game of baseball as his father, Terry, played at St. Mary’s University – inducted into SMU’s Hall of Fame – and was drafted by the San Diego Padres (31st Round – 1980) and Toronto Blue Jays (24th Round – 1981) and played two seasons in the Blue Jays organization. Raley has two brothers who have both been drafted, Brooks (Chicago Cubs – 6th Round, 2009) and Cory (Cleveland Indians – 33rd Round, 2012). Brooks is currently in Triple-A with the Cubs while Cory will begin his collegiate career at Texas A&M in 2013.
