Clement joins Rebels as new hitting coach
Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco has announced the hiring of Mike Clement as the Rebels’ new hitting coach. Clement replaces former hitting coach Cliff Godwin who accepted the head coaching job at East Carolina, his alma mater.
“We’re excited to announce Mike Clement as our new hitting coach here at Ole Miss,” Bianco said. “He’s had success everywhere he has been with some outstanding programs.” His last job at Kansas State is no exception.
Clement will be in charge of the Rebel hitters and will also assist Carl Lafferty, the recruiting coordinator.
For the past two seasons, Clement has been an assistant coach on the Wildcats’ staff. While there, his team ranked second nationally in 2013 in batting average and was also ranked in the top 10 in the nation in six other offensive categories that season.
This past season, Kansas State continued its offensive success. The team finished the season ranked in the top five in the conference in runs per game, on base percentage and batting average. They also ranked in the top 25 in the nation in on base percentage and averaged almost six runs per game.
Before coaching at Kansas State, Clement was an assistant at Texas A&M for three years. During his time with the Aggies, Clement helped the team into postseason play each of the three seasons, as well as to a 2011 Big 12 regular-season title, tournament title and appearance in the College World Series. Clement was also leading the Aggie offense when the team won the 2010 Big 12 Championship.
Clement played catcher in college, where he majored in physical education and secondary education. He graduated in 2002 and played one professional season for the Canton Coyotes of the Frontier League.
Coach Clement has been successful in developing players throughout his career. In nine years as an assistant, he has coached 11 All-Americans, 17 MLB Draft picks and 57 All-Conference selections—including two Big 12 Player of the Year selections.
Photo courtesy of cjonline.com
Evelyn Van Pelt
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn’s love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.
