Memphis baseball, softball raising interest
Neither Kerrick Jackson nor Stephanie Vanbrakle Prothro claim to be miracle workers.
The first-year Memphis baseball and softball coaches both understand the tasks they have taken on. Jackson — the school’s first Black baseball coach — inherited a program that has not finished a full season more than one game above .500 since 2015 and has not been to an NCAA Regional since 2007. On the softball side, the Tigers have made the postseason just once since introducing the sport in 2007.
But, as they prepare for their respective first pitches (softball: 11 a.m. Friday at the San Diego State Season Kickoff tournament; baseball: 6 p.m. Feb. 17, vs. Samford at Fedexpark), Jackson and Prothro both have a little extra pep in their step. There is a sense of optimism echoing off the walls of their dugouts and clubhouses. Not because they’re going to get everything corrected right off the bat. Instead, Jackson and Prothro have each experienced a similar sensation since arriving at Memphis.
“It’s one thing for me to be excited to be the head coach at Memphis, because I’ve always felt this place is a sleeping giant,” said Jackson. “But then, when you get here and talk to people who are on the same page. Donors, booster and administrators that feel the same way. It’s a great feeling to know I’m not the only one.”
That feeling hasn’t always been shared by the coaches of every sport at Memphis. For example, former women’s basketball coach Melissa Mcferrin raised concerns in 2019 that her program was suffering because it was not getting the same level of investment as men’s basketball. An external investigation into the culture of the women’s basketball program found in 2021 that Mcferrin’s relationship with former athletic director Tom Bowen “deteriorated significantly due to promises that were made and not kept, and a lack of honesty and accountability.”
Laird Veatch, hired to succeed Bowen in August 2019, acknowledges the difficulties any “under-resourced” athletic department faces.
“It’s hard,” he told The Commercial Appeal recently. “It is hard to focus on trying to take care of everybody when you know that football and men’s basketball drive so much of the revenue that’s helping pay the bills.
“And it’s hard for me to say exactly what it was like before. But I will say, having a lot of new staff who have been other places who are really passionate about this profession and really know what it’s supposed to look like and care about it, I think having a lot of those people come together at the same time on the administrative side has led to a real high energy.”
But instilling a more holistic approach and making more equitable investments in other sports has been one of Veatch’s top priorities.
Case in point: baseball and softball. Sure, Jackson and Prothro both represent an infusion of new blood. On top of that, though, Memphis invested $3.5 million ($1.5 million of which was courtesy of a donation from Avron
Fogelman) to make multiple significant upgrades to Fedexpark during the offseason. The school leveled the baseball playing surface and installed state-ofthe-art artificial turf. It also added a new video board. The Tigers Softball Complex was also outfitted with a new video board.
“There were definitely some things when we got here (that quickly needed addressed),” said Veatch. “Things that, at least, kind of get those fundamental things in place so they all have an opportunity to compete.”
“One thing that was appealing when I took the job (at Memphis), the administration wants everybody to be great – not just one or two sports, or a hand-selected few,” said Prothro, who was pitching coach at Alabama for the past 12 seasons.
Jackson, whose team features 19 returners and 19 first-year Tigers (transfers and freshmen), promises a more exciting brand of baseball. But he knows that might not be enough to drive attendance up consistently. So, Jackson pitched an idea to the athletic department: free admission for kids 12-andunder for all home games in February and March.
“I want to make sure we’re doing things to get that interest level high and get them engaged to create a great home atmosphere,” he said.