Christian Ostrander introduced as next head baseball coach at USM
Six weeks to the day after Scott Berry’s end-of-season retirement was announced, a new era of Southern Miss baseball is officially underway in Hattiesburg.
At the Trent Lott Center this afternoon, Christian Ostrander was formally introduced as the next head coach of the Golden Eagles.
Ostrander is the successor to the one they call 40, now just the fifth skipper at USM since 1959 and 14th all-time.
The Black and Gold are coming off one of their best seasons in school history, hosting their second Super Regional in a row and finishing one win away from the College World Series.
Coach Ostrander says he’s taking over a well-oiled machine and that he’s not going to try to reinvent the wheel. “Yeah, I mean a lot of times people are standing up there at that podium and you’ve got to change a lot and try to get back to things, but it’s kind of established and set here, and I think that’s why it is important, the succession and how it’s been here, so it’s a continuation. It’s growth with continuation is a mindset. It’s not an overhaul. It’s not a blood transfusion, just come in and continue what’s been going on.”
Coach Berry said, “He’ll be great moving forward into a new role and a new chair, and a very important chair. That head coach chair sits much different than that assistant coach chair, and I’ve sat in both of them, and there’s a big difference. But he’s earned the right and deserves the right to sit in that chair and run this program how he sees fit, and there’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll do a tremendous job at that.”
Ostrander has been the pitching coach and associate head coach during his six years at USM.
Athletic Director Jeremy McClain say it is a huge advantage to the have the next man up already in the building for continued success.
