At a press conference Thursday, Gary Vaught was named the head coach of the Hoptown Hoppers for the 2020 baseball season
The Hoptown Hoppers have turned to someone with a wealth of college coaching experience to lead the baseball team in 2020. The team announced Thursday that Gary Vaught will become the eighth coach to lead the summer collegiate wooden bat league team.
Vaught won over 800 games in 24 seasons as head coach of NCAA Division II University of Indianapolis. He also coached at Oral Roberts from 1986-89, which included a trip to the 1987 NCAA West Region finals where ORU lost to eventual national champions Stanford whose roster included future Major Leaguers Jack McDowell, Ed Sprague, and Ruben Amaro, Jr.
Vaught also coached at Kansas State University for three seasons and was named the Big 8 Coach of the Year in 1985.
The 67-year-old Vaught serves on several national baseball boards and commissions and has coaching relationships with several current Division I coaches, including Tim Corbin of National Champion Vanderbilt.
Hoppers General Manager Ted Jatczak said Vaught was approached by the team during the 2019 playoffs and attended a couple of postseason contests. Jatczak added that Nick Walker, who coached the Hoppers to the 2019 Ohio Valley League title, is pursuing other possible coaching and playing options in 2020 but has been extended an invitation to return to the Hoppers.
Vaught is the first person to bring previous collegiate head coaching experience to the Hoppers’ coaching position. Because he isn’t a college head coach, there are no restrictions on where he and the team can recruit and sign players. When the Hoppers had a head coach who was employed with a Division I school in the past, they were prohibited from having junior college players on their roster per NCAA rules.
Vaught says he is an “old school” coach who likes to play small ball, hit and run, and steal bases. After retiring at the end of the 2018 season, he decided that he wasn’t ready for retirement and wanted to give summer baseball a try.
The Hoppers won their third Ohio Valley League title in 2019. Vaught said he would like to look into bringing back some of the 2019 players to the 2020 team.
