BIRMINGHAM – A 39-year coaching veteran and a member of the 1,000 wins club, UAB baseball head coach Brian Shoop announced his retirement on Sunday.
Shoop retires after nearly four decades of coaching, including spending the last 14 years at UAB. Overall, the Columbus, Ohio native was a head coach for 31 years and compiled 1,061 career victories, including the 2001 NAIA National Championship at Birmingham Southern.
UAB assistant coach Perry Roth, who has been with the program for 14 years alongside Shoop, has been promoted to interim head coach for the 2020-21 season.
“Brian Shoop has had a phenomenal career,” said Director of Athletics Mark Ingram. “While many will point to his on-field accomplishments like winning more than 1,000 games, I am confident that he is most proud of the relationships he’s built with so many young men. No one has earned the right to retire and spend time with their family more than Brian Shoop. His family means the world to him and I am lucky to have worked with such an incredible man.”
After his playing career at Malone University from 1977-80, Shoop began his assistant coaching career at his alma mater from 1981-82, before being hired as an assistant at Mississippi State under current UAB volunteer assistant Ron Polk. Shoop was at MSU from 1983-89, and earned his first head coaching position at Birmingham Southern in 1990.
Shoop compiled 699 victories at BSC, and along with winning the NAIA National Championship in 2001, Shoop successful navigated the Panthers’ move to Division I, which included a 47-18 record in 2004 and a NCAA Regional appearance.
He then made the transition to UAB in 2007 and has been at the helm of the Blazers for the last 14 years. He won the 2012 C-USA Championship, was named Conference USA’s Coach of the Year in 2014 and was the recipient of the 2015 Jerry Kindall Character in Coaching Award.
Along with tremendous success on the field, Shoop’s teams have always been highly achieving in the classroom and in the community. This past year alone, the Blazer baseball team placed 26 student-athletes on the C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll for maintaining a 3.0 GPA or higher, and six earning the C-USA Academic Medal for a 3.75 GPA or higher. Shoop’s Blazers have posted an overall GPA of 3.0 or higher for 24 consecutive semesters.
“It has been an honor for me to have had the opportunity to work closely with Coach Shoop,” Senior Associate Athletic Director for Administrator and Baseball Sport Administrator Dan Carlson said. “I got to see firsthand his dedication to our student-athletes and our UAB program as he instilled values for life and developed ‘Uncommon Men.’ There is no way to put in words the type of impact he has made in so many people’s lives and no one deserves to enjoy this next phase of his life in retirement more than Brian and his wife Brenda.”
And to you, Coach Shoop. Thank you. Thank you for being a mentor to so many young men and for doing things the right way. Your passion for baseball has affected so many people for the better. You are truly a coaching legend and UAB was lucky to have you for the past 14 years.
