Alabama head baseball coach Greg Goff was selected as the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Diamond 2016 South Central Region Coach of the Year, the organization announced on Friday morning.

Prior to being named head coach at Alabama on June 17, Goff built Louisiana Tech from a team that won 15 games before to his arrival in 2015, into a 42-20 team a season ago. The Bulldogs received an at-large berth in the 2016 NCAA Starkville Regional, the program’s first NCAA Regional appearance since 1987.

The 2016 Bulldogs reached the 40-win plateau for just the sixth time in program history and the first time since 1988. Goff’s squad set program records with seven series wins and 19 victories in Conference USA, the fifth-best league based on RPI.

Individually, Goff coached two All-Conference USA selections in Casey Sutton (first team) and Jonathan Washam (second team). Sutton finished 6-1 with all six victories coming during conference play, while leading all C-USA pitchers with a lowly 1.43 ERA. Washam batted .318 across 47 games (34 starts) and finished with 42 hits, including nine doubles, a triple and two home runs. He drove in 25 RBI and posted a .368 on-base percentage during his all-conference season.

Goff also tutored three pitchers who were selected during the 2016 MLB First-Year Player Draft, marking just the eighth time in program history that Louisiana Tech had at least three players taken in the draft. Adam Akins, a senior closer, was taken in the 18th round by the New York Mets, while juniors Braden Bristo (23rd) and Philip Diehl (27th) were each taken by the New York Yankees.

The Regional and National Coaches of the Year will be honored at the ABCA/Diamond Hall of Fame/Coach of the Year Banquet on Jan. 6, 2017, in Anaheim, Calif., as part of the 73rd annual convention.

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