Army hires Jim Foster as Head Coach

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WEST POINT, N.Y. – Army West Point Director of Athletics Boo Corrigan announced today the hiring of Jim Foster as head baseball coach at West Point. Foster becomes the 18th head coach in the program’s 126 year history.

“After an extensive national search, we are extremely pleased to announce Jim Foster as our new baseball coach,” Corrigan said. “Jim brings a wealth of winning experience. His commitment to excellence while upholding a standard fits well with our dedication to duty, honor, country. I am confident he will lead our baseball program to new levels of success and support our mission of developing leaders at West Point. We could not be more excited for Jim and his wife Narelle, and their children Madison, Courtney, Delany and Bo, along with our cadets and members of the Army Baseball Family.”

Foster brings 14 years of collegiate baseball experience to West Point, including nine as a head coach at the University of Rhode Island. He has spent the last two seasons as the associate head coach at Boston College, working with the pitchers and catchers.

“I want to thank Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen, Boo Corrigan and the rest of the leadership at Army West Point for the opportunity to lead its baseball program and have my family be a part of this great community,” Foster said. “It is a tremendous honor and privilege to be here today. Our mission is to recruit and develop scholar-athletes that can lead the Corps, and compete and win at the highest level. We will put together a tremendous group of coaches who will provide the instruction and leadership necessary to accomplish that mission.”

This past year, the Eagles received a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2009. Boston College won the Oxford Regional as a No. 3 seed to advance to the Super Regionals. It was Boston College’s first trip to the Super Regionals in school history and the Eagles fell one win shy after falling to No. 3 Miami in the best-of-three series. Boston College finished the year with 35 wins the most for the program since 2005. The Eagles were 22-33 the season before Foster arrived in Chestnut Hill.

Foster led a pitching staff to a 3.83 team earned run average in 2016 with 431 strikeouts in 507.2 innings pitched. At the top of the staff was junior right-hander Justin Dunn. He was named to the Baseball America All-America Third Team and was selected 19th overall by the New York Mets in Major League Baseball’s 2016 First-Year Players Draft. He finished the year with a 2.06 ERA, which was fourth on the Eagles’ all-time list for a single-season.

In his first season leading the pitching staff at Boston College, the Eagles recorded a 4.41 ERA. Their 433 strikeouts ranked fourth in BC record books and the 12 saves tied for second. Eagles’ opponents hit just .255 against them, good for third in the BC records. The BC staff allowed 184 walks, good for second-fewest in the ACC, and 455 hits, third-fewest in the league. The Eagles’ 8.20 strikeouts per game ranked sixth in the league.

Right-handers John Gorman and Jeff Burke were both taken in the 2015 MLB First-Year Players Draft as Gorman went in the 31st round Burke in the 32nd. Gorman’s 77 strikeouts in 2015 tied for 10th on BC’s single-season list. Gorman was named to the ACC All-Academic Team while righty Eric Stone, who went 5-0 with a 2.38 ERA and was named to the NEIBA All-New England Team. Foster also tutored Mike King to pitch the Eagles’ first complete-game shutout since 2003 as he allowed just one hit to No. 24 Georgia Tech. In nine seasons as the head coach at Rhode Island, Foster became all-time winningest coach in program history, amassing a 268-230-3 (.538) record.

He led the Rams to six consecutive 30-win seasons, from 2008 to 2013, for the first time in program history and took them to eight consecutive Atlantic-10 Championship appearances from 2006 to 2013. He coached 28 all-conference selections, 21 All-New England selections, three All-Americans, three A-10 Pitchers of the Year and two A-10 Players of the Year.

In 2013, the Rams earned the Atlantic-10 Regular-Season Co-Championship title, garnering their 11th straight bid to the conference tournament, and in 2011, Foster was named Atlantic-10 Coach of the Year after the Rams went 31-22 overall and 16-8 in A-10 play. In 2009, the Rams set a URI record with 37 wins, including three over ranked teams (No. 8 Miami, No. 11 Oklahoma and No. 25 Ohio State), earning him CollegeBaseballInsider.com National Coach of Year Honorable Mention and New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) Coach of the Year honors.

In 2006, Foster’s first year at the helm, the Rams claimed the A-10 regular-season title with a 34-16 record, going 19-6 in conference. Seven players earned all-conference honors, including Atlantic-10 Player of the Year Steve Holmes, who led the nation with a 1.30 ERA.

Foster served as the Rams’ pitching coach and worked the catchers in 2005 prior to his appointment as head coach. That season, URI’s ERA ranked in the top 30 nationally, earning him an NCAA Pitching Coach of the Year nomination. The same year, the Rams won the Atlantic-10 Championship, receiving their first-ever NCAA Tournament berth.

The Warwick, R.I., native was an All-Big East and two-time All-New England selection at Providence where he played under current Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. He was drafted in the 22nd round by the Baltimore Orioles and spent seven years with the organization. He also played in the farm systems for Arizona, Anaheim and the Chicago White Sox. In 1997, he was named Baseball Weekly’s Minor League Catcher of the Year and in 1993, to the Topps All-Rookie Team.

After 10 years in the minor leagues, he worked for two seasons as an assistant coach at Brown, where he served as the hitting coach and worked with catchers.