Clemson adds local star LeCroy to baseball coaching staff

CLEMSON — Recently, some Clemson fans have complained about the lack of local flavor in Jack Leggett’s baseball program.

They don’t get much more local than Bradley LeCroy.

Leggett and Clemson announced the Walhalla native’s hiring to the Tigers’ baseball staff Tuesday.

LeCroy, 32, will serve as the Tigers’ recruiting coordinator and serve as hitting and outfielders coach. He comes from Tennessee, where he spent the past three seasons as the Volunteers’ infielders coach and recruiting coordinator under head coach Todd Raleigh, another Leggett disciple.

He spent 2006-07 on Raleigh’s staff at Western Carolina, and spent 2003-05 as a Clemson volunteer assistant.

LeCroy replaces Tom Riginos, who left earlier this month to become Winthrop’s head coach.

“We are very excited to have coach LeCroy return to Clemson,” Leggett said in a statement. “He has a long history of playing and coaching on very successful Clemson teams. He will be a great addition to our staff and will be valuable in many ways.”

During his Tennessee tenure, LeCroy put together a pair of top-30 recruiting classes; his 2008 class was rated No. 28 by Collegiate Baseball and his ’09 class was ranked 14th by Baseball America.

His hitting record is also solid; UT slugged 87 home runs in 55 games this past season, second-best in school history. In 2007, Western Carolina was in the nation’s top 11 in home runs per game, batting average, runs per game, slugging percentage and doubles. That year, WCU went 7-2 against the ACC, Big 10 and SEC. In addition, the Catamounts had a school-record five players drafted in the MLB amateur draft, and LeCroy recruit Kenny Smith won the SoCon Player of the Year.

“Success seems to follow him and I know our players will respond to his personality and knowledge of the game,” Leggett said. “He is one of the top recruiters in the country and he is very excited about his opportunity here at Clemson.”

LeCroy was a four-year letterman at Clemson from 1997-2000, a valuable utility player who was the starting shortstop on the 1999 team and part of the 2000 team that made it to the College World Series.

He spent 2001-02 as a coach at Anderson College (now Anderson University), and also coached Williamston’s American Legion team, guiding both of his teams to the playoffs.