Clemson baseball: Profile of pitching coach Jimmy Belanger
By John Baker
New Clemson baseball coach Erik Bakich has his man in Jimmy Belanger.
On the 16th of June, Erik Bakich was named the 28th head coach of the Clemson baseball program. Bakich was at Michigan for ten seasons before taking the job at Clemson. Bakich has made it known that he will take his time in putting together is staff to join him at Clemson, but it appears he’s got his man as the Tigers new pitching coach.
ASSISTANT SCOOP: @ClemsonBaseball has hired Jimmy Belanger as its new pitching coach, sources tell @d1baseball. Belanger spent the last three seasons as the pitching coach at @FSUBaseball and had one of the nation’s premier rotations this past season. #Clemson
— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) June 24, 2022
Jimmy Belanger has accepted the job. Belanger most recently was the pitching coach at Florida State, but his future with the Seminoles was in doubt as Mike Martin, Jr. was fired at season’s end.
Belanger played college baseball at Cecil Community College (North East, N.Y.) and transferred to Louisville where he played on the 2007-2008 College World Series team.
Belanger would start his coaching career at Monmouth in 2010 where he worked with many great pitchers (Pat Light, Nick Meyers, and Andrew McGee) before moving to Monmouth for three seasons (2010-2012) and then leaving for Maryland where he coached for four seasons (2013-2016). Belanger coached for Kentucky for three seasons (2017-2019), and at Florida State for three seasons (2020-2022).
Wherever Jimmy Belanger has been, winning has followed
It’s clear that winning follows Belanger and all of these teams had great pitching staffs. Four of his teams has been to the NCAA tournament, and most notably two Super Regional appearances with Maryland (2014 and 2015). There have been 33 pitchers drafted that played under Belanger, yes that is correct, 33 pitchers.
This past season the pitching staff Florida State had a team 4.23 ERA in 534.0 innings pitched which was fourth in the ACC, and last season Belanger’s staff ranked top 10 nationally in ERA (3.45).
In case you were wondering Clemson posted a 4.86 ERA this past season in 510.2 Innings pitched. It is no secret that Clemson has struggled on the mound the past couple of seasons and has been a big part of the reason why the Tigers missed the last two NCAA tournaments.
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It is clear that Bakich wanted Belanger in Tiger Town and now has reeled him in as the next pitching coach. With the experience that Belanger presents along with his proven winning resume, Clemson fans should be thrilled with Jimmy Belanger in orange and purple next season.