< Previous18 COACH BUTCH THOMPSON State as both associate head coach and pitching coach. A native of Amory, Miss., Thompson has coached 33 Division I All-Americans and 46 all-conference performers. He has seen 21 of his former pitchers called up to Major League Baseball, including 15 since 2014. Thompson has also turned 39 pitchers who went undrafted out of high school into MLB draft picks. Along with his pitching pedigree, Thompson is also considered one of the top recruiters in the country. Since 2003, he has secured 16 recruiting classes that were ranked in the top 10 by either Baseball America or Perfect Game, including the program record No. 4 class in 2017 and No. 5 class in 2022. His classes signed from 2006-08 at Auburn each ranked in the top 18 nationally. In 31 years of coaching at the collegiate level, including 22 in the Southeastern Conference, Thompson has coached nine College World Series participants, including leading the Tigers to the program’s first trip to the College World Series in 22 years in 2019 and taking the team back for the second time in three postseasons in 2022. Thompson has also coached one national champion and a national runner-up, won nine conference championships and made 19 postseason appearances. Thompson was named the 2006 Fellowship of Christian Athletes SEC Coach of the Year while at Auburn and the 2014 Baseball America and American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) National Assistant Coach of the Year while at Mississippi State. During his tenure with the Tigers, Thompson has led the team to three straight NCAA Tournament appearances from 2017-19 for the first time since 2001-03, including back-to-back super regionals in 2018 and 2019 for the first time in program history. Auburn has finished five of Thompson’s seven seasons in the top 25, including three in the top 10. The No. 5 national ranking to finish 2022 was tied for the second highest mark in program history. BUTCH THOMPSON Head Coach CLICK FOR FULL BIO Butch Thompson was named Auburn’s head baseball coach on October 22, 2015 and enters his ninth season with the Tigers in 2024. Thompson has returned the Tigers to prominence in seven seasons on The Plains as he has guided the team to a 256-187-1 overall record and has advanced to the NCAA Tournament five of the last six postseasons, including three Super Regional appearances in the last four years and two trips to the College World Series in the last three postseasons. Thompson, who spent three seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Auburn from 2006-08, returned to The Plains after seven seasons at Mississippi 19 COACH BUTCH THOMPSON Thanks to a second-half run for the record books, the 2023 season saw Auburn earn its second straight regional host bid for the first time in program history. The Tigers became one of five programs in the country and two in the SEC to host each of the last two seasons, joined by Florida, Miami, Oklahoma State and Stanford, and the regional appearances marked the program’s fifth in the last six postseasons under Thompson. Auburn posted a league-best 12-3 record in the final five weeks of conference play and finished the SEC season with 17 wins, the most since winning the SEC West in 2010. The 12-3 stretch was the program’s best since also going 12-3 in the final 15 games of the 2010 season and the nine- game SEC winning streak at the end of the regular season and first game of the SEC Tournament was the team’s longest since 1995. In seven seasons at MSU, Thompson made four NCAA regional trips, two Super Regionals, won the SEC Tournament and advanced to the College World Series finishing as NCAA runner-up in 2013. In three of his last four seasons in Starkville, the Bulldogs’ staff ERA finished no higher than 3.06. Thompson’s 2013 pitching staff was one of two nationally to finish in the top 15 in ERA, strikeouts per nine innings and hits allowed per nine innings. In addition to his experience at Auburn and Mississippi State, Thompson also spent four seasons at Georgia from 2002-05, including a trip to the College World Series in 2004. While there, he guided the development of future Major Leaguers Josh Fields, Mitchell Boggs and Brooks Brown. Thompson launched his coaching career as pitching coach and top assistant at Huntingdon College (Ala.) in 1993, before returning to his alma mater in Birmingham, where he helped lead the Panthers to back-to-back Southern States Conference Championships and in 1995 coached BSC to its first NAIA World Series berth. Thompson left BSC briefly to serve as head coach at Jefferson State Community College in Birmingham in 1997. While at JSCC, he was honored as the Regional Tournament Coach of the Year, the ABCA Alabama Junior College Coach of the Year and the Southeast Region Coach of the Year after guiding JSCC to a 39-21 mark, the AJCAA Region 22 State Championship and a third-place finish in the NJCAA Division II World Series. He returned to Birmingham-Southern as top assistant the following season, beginning a four-year run during the most successful span in BSC baseball history. The Panthers won 196 games and four TranSouth Conference Championships and made three-consecutive appearances in the NAIA World Series. BSC’s 2001 team posted a school-best 55-11 mark and captured the NAIA National Championship. In 2002, Thompson joined the SEC baseball coaching fraternity as a pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Georgia and has been a part of the league for the past 17 seasons. Thompson currently serves as the large- school representative for the Alabama Baseball Coaches Association and is an All- American committee member representing the South region for the ABCA. Thompson prepped at Amory (Miss.) High School and later starred as a pitcher at Itawamba (Miss.) Community College from 1989-90. He is a member of both the ICC Athletic Hall of Fame (Class of 2014) and MACCC Hall of Fame (Class of 2021). Thompson earned a Bachelor’s Degree in History at BSC in 1992 and completed a Master’s Degree in Sports Administration at UAB in 1996. He is married to the former Robin Ashe of Birmingham, Ala., and they are the parents of three daughters --- Anna, Olivia and Madelyn Gail. FOLLOW @ 3STRIKES_AU800-726-0507 • Conecuhsausage.com Evergreen, ALabama Choose Conecuh for any occasion. Since 1947, Conecuh Sausage Company has been making meals special by giving families the tastes and traditions they count on. Conecuh Sausage is made from the fi nest cuts of pork, prepared with the Sessions family’s patented blend of seasonings and smoked over a pure hickory fi re in Evergreen, Alabama. Enjoy smoked sausage, ham, turkey and bacon with that true Southern fl avor. A FAMILY TRADITION21 PHOTO FEATURE: OPENING WEEKEND VS EKUhopehope GIVE A campaign to expand mental health services in East Alabama Center for Mental Health | OPENING FALL 2025 To meet the growing need for psychiatric services in our community, a freestanding Center for Mental Health is being built in Opelika near Spencer Cancer Center and Pinnacle Cardiovascular Associates. It will house adult and adolescent inpatient units, an outpatient clinic, and provide space for growth to meet the demand for mental health services. The center will also help EAH recruit new physicians and promote a future psychiatric residency program. Scan the QR code or visit eastalabamahealth.org/givehope to learn more about our Give Hope campaign to expand mental health services in East Alabama. If you would like to learn more about how you can support this campaign, please call Susan Cowart, EAMC Foundation Director, at 334-528-5923.23 CLICK TO VIEW FULL LIST OF TIGERS IN THE PROS JOSH PALACIOS EDOUARD JULIEN KEEGAN THOMPSON DAVIS DANIELGARRETT COOPER AUBURN IN THE MLB AUBURN IN THE MLB BAILEY HORN CASEY MIZERevolutionizing Outdoor Events with SNASY Auburn University is setting a new standard for events with their innovative partnership with Carrier and Jackson Services. Families who require special services can now experience game day in a whole new way, thanks to SNASY. This unique program allows families to register for events and receive all the necessary information ahead of time, including a detailed itinerary for the entire day! What’s even more exciting is that SNASY at Auburn University is just the beginning. Snasy will expand these services to the entire SEC and even to a local downtown communit y near you very soon. 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