TOWSON, Md. – A new era of college baseball is on the horizon at Towson University as Matt Tyner will be named the Tigers’ new head coach. Tyner will officially be introduced at 1 p.m. Friday in the Minnegan Room on the third floor of the Unitas Stadium Field House.
“We are very excited for Matt to be our next head coach,” said Director of Athletics Tim Leonard. “We had a very talented candidate pool and Matt stood out with his vision of turning this program into a contender. His success as a player and coach, as well as in the business sector, made him the ideal person to be the next head coach at Towson.”
“First off, I want to thank God for this opportunity,” said Tyner. “Secondly, I want to thank President Kim Schatzel and Athletic Director Tim Leonard for having the faith and the trust in me to guide the Towson University baseball program. I am very excited for this opportunity as it fulfills a life-long dream.
“I fully understand the responsibility that has been given to me and I will promise to uphold the Towson University values and mission statement to the best of my ability. I look forward to meeting everyone, including the members of my new team, the alumni, the administration and staff, and all of those fans of Tiger Athletics.
“The amount of support and level of commitment that I have received from Tim and his staff continues to show me that Towson baseball has a bright future ahead. I look forward to hitting the ground running with my new team.”
Tyner comes to Towson after spending the previous four seasons as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Richmond.
In his tenure as the team’s hitting coach, the Spiders ranked at or near the top of the Atlantic 10 in several offensive categories.
This past season, Tyner helped run an offense that finished in the top five in the league in average (.280), hits (522) and doubles (103).
In 2016, Richmond ranked in the top 20 in the country with a .308 average, its highest in over a decade. The team also ranked 15th nationally in doubles (127), fourth in doubles per game (2.44) and 32nd in slugging percentage (.454).
Tyner’s second season with the Spiders saw the team put up some of the best numbers in nearly a decade. The team led the conference with 57 home runs, while adding the most RBIs (337) since 2007.
Prior to his time in Richmond, Tyner spent two seasons as the head coach at Bellarmine University in Kentucky. He posted a 60-46 overall record and led the Knights to the GLVC championship in his second season.
He took over the program at Bellarmine after completing two different stints as the top assistant at Butler. During his seven years in Indianapolis, Tyner also coached several youth teams, winning back-to-back under-17 national titles as an assistant for the Indiana Bulls.
A highly successful collegiate player in his own right, Tyner was a four-year starter for the University of Miami, where he helped lead the Hurricanes to three College World Series. A power hitting outfielder, Tyner was named the 1980 Baskin Robbins Player of the Year and tied the Miami home run record.
Tyner was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the ninth round of the 1980 Major League Baseball Draft. He spent three years in the Orioles system, leading the entire organization in home runs in 1981 with 33, while hitting .301. His professional career came to a halt in 1983 after multiple surgeries for bone chips in his right elbow.
A native of Decatur, Illinois, Tyner completed his bachelor’s degree in business communications at Concordia University’s Indianapolis campus.
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