Mike Croley - Baseball Coach (2024)

The 2023-24 season will be Mike Croley’s twelfth season as the Bears head coach.

Croley arrivedat TruettMcConnell University in 2012-2013 after coaching stints at Embry Riddle University (Daytona), Brevard CC, Valdosta State University, Savannah College of Art and Design (Savannah), and the Rockford Riverhawks (Professional Frontier League). Croley brings an intense passion for baseball and the platform it offers for sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Truett McConnell baseball program is focused, not only on developing great student-athletes, but more importantly disciples for the Lord Jesus Christ. The program attempts to encourage and challenge each of its members, through small discipleship groups led by local pastors, church members, and coaches. The team also serves the community in various ways throughout the fall.
On the field the program has experienced tremendous growth over the last eleven years. The Truett McConnell baseball program has reached the conference tournament every year since 2015. Prior to the 2015 season, the program never reached a conference tournament. The 2017 team finished runner up in the AAC tournament, in doing so becoming the school’s first ever team sport to earn a national tournament bid and finished 3^rdin the Montgomery Regional.
In the current landscape of the transfer portal and programs seeking after transfer students, Truett McConnell has gone the route of recruiting and developing mainly high school players.
The baseball program has had three players drafted or signed since 2016.

• Jared Oliver (RHP) Boston Red Sox (2016 – 26^thRound)
• Chris Carden (RHP) Tampa Bay Rays (2017)
• Greg Elder (LHP) Missoula Paddleheads (2021)

The program has made tremendous strides over the last eight seasons going 216-172 over that time span, after going 40-109 in the previous three seasons. Over the last eight seasons some program accomplishments include:
2023

• The 2023 team finished the season with the best regular season record in program history, finishing 34-16.
• Three All-Conference performers in Andrew Johnston, Tyler Gray and Mikal Mascarello.
• The program also achieved its second highest finish in the AAC, once again qualifying for the conference tournament for the eighth straight season.
• School record thirteen game winning streak during the season.

2022

• The 2022 Bears recorded at that time their second most conference wins with sixteen and an overall record of 25-22.
• The team qualified for the conference tournament for the seventh straight season.
• The Bears had two all-conference selections In Andrew Johnston (1^stteam), Will Ingram (2^ndTeam)
• Tanner Griffith won his second Gold Glove in a row within the conference.

2021

• Sixth consecutive Tournament Appearance
• The Bears finished 29-24 and made it to the semi-finals of the AAC tournament only losing to the #1 team in the country.
• The Bears placed three players on the All-Conference team. Josh Johnston (1^stteam), Brooks Rosser (2^ndteam), and Andrew Johnston (2^ndteam). The Bears also had a Gold Glove winner at second base in Tanner Griffith.
• The Bears beat three ranked opponents in 2021 including the #4^thranked team in the country and a three-game sweep of the #14^thranked team in the country.

2020

• The 2020 shortened season, was still one that had some program firsts, such as, beating the #1 ranked team in the nation two out of three games.
• Josh Johnston was also the first ever pre-season All-American for the Bears. The Bears also won nine out of their last eleven games, before the season came to an end.

2019

• The 2019 season proved to be the second most successful regular season and conference season in school history.
• The Bears finished 3^rdoverall in the conference and Croley was awarded the AAC coach of the year. The 3^rdplace finish is the highest ever for the Bears eclipsing the previous year’s finish.
• The team was also ranked as high as 18^thin the country. The Bears had three all conference performers and one honorable mention All-America performer in Josh Johnston (1^stteam/All-America), Austin Bishop (2^ndteam), and Greg Elder (2^ndteam), as well as The AAC Freshman of the Year in John McRae.
• The Bears had four All-AAC academic performers and three NAIA Scholar Athletes. The program also had three members make public professions of faith through baptism.

2018

• In 2018 the Bears had their second highest finish in school history in the Appalachian Athletic Conference. They also qualified for the AAC Conference tournament for the fourth straight season.
• As a team offensively, the Bears broke multiple offensive records. Over the past three seasons the Truett McConnell baseball program has won eighty-six games, compared to the previous three seasons, in which, it won forty games.

2017

• The 2017 season was a record-breaking year for the Truett McConnell baseball program. The 2017 team broke the school record for wins with 33, surpassing the record they set last season.
• The team qualified for the AAC conference tournament for the third straight season and went 3-1 in the conference tournament finishing runner-up in the AAC Tournament.
• The team was also the first team sport in the University'shistory to qualify for the NAIA National Tournament being selected to compete in the 46-team field. They ended up finishing third in the Montgomery Bracket.
• The team also had a number of individual award winners, such as Chris Carden, who was named First-Team All-Conference as an infielder and Second-Team All-Conference as a pitcher. Tate Gaines and Gregory Elder Jr. were named Second-Team All-Conference. Elder also set the school record for strikeouts with 117 in 2017. The team also featured three gold glove winners in Davis Dasher (LF), Andrew Fogarty (RF), and Patrick Overstreet (3B).
• The Bears excelled in the classroom as well in the spring with a team GPA of 3.24. The program featured four NAIA Scholar-Athletes in Carden, Casey Guilliams, Michael Long, and Andrew Fogarty. The Bears also had six Academic All-Conference selections in Austin Bishop, Carden, Fogarty, Gaines,Guilliams, and Long.
• Bears senior Chris Carden also signed with the Tampa Bay Rays once the season concluded joining Jared Oliver, a 26^thround draft pick the previous year in professional baseball.
• The Bears are one of the few programs to have guys sign professional contracts with affiliated teams in consecutive years on the NAIA level.

2016

• The team won a school record twenty-nine games and a school-record 13 conference games.
• The 2016 Bears qualified for the AAC Tournament for the second year in a row.
• The Bears had their first-ever draft pickas a four year school in Jared Oliver who was selected in the 26thround by the Boston Red Sox.
• The Bears also had one first-team All-Conference selection in freshman Patrick Overstreet, who broke the school record for home runs in a season with 13.
• The Bears placed nine members on All-Academic list. The team has seen a substantial increase in its production both on and off the field as it has increased its win totals substantially each of the last three seasons while also achieving a 3.10 team GPA.

2015

• The 2015 Bears qualified for the conference tournament for the first time in school history.
• The 2015 Bears also recorded victories against the sixth-ranked Georgia Gwinnett Grizzlies, as well as NCAA Division II opponents Southern Wesleyan University and Emmanuel College.
• The Bears also had two student-athletes earn All-Conference honors, with Chris Carden being selected to the first-team as an infielder and Luke Henderson earning second-team honors as a pitcher.
• The Bears had six academic All-Conference selections and had a team GPA over 3.0.

2014

• The 2014 Bears doubled their win total from the previous season, while starting six to seven freshmen regularly.
• The team also won the AAC Champions of Character Team award. The season proved of great value for a very young team as 19contests were decided by one or two runs.

Croley has served as a coach on both the collegiate and professional level throughout his career. While at SCAD, the team set a school record for fielding percentage and home runs and reduced strikeouts by 20 percent from the previous year. Croley also served as an assistant coach at NCAA Division II institution Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia,during the 2008 and 2009 seasons. In 2009, the Blazers finished in second place in the Gulf South Tournament and earned a bid to the NCAA Division II National Tournament. The team compiled a 43-21 overall record and led all of NCAA Division II with 113 home runs.

Working with the Valdosta State infielders in 2008, the Blazers committed just 45 errors in 1,080 chances. The squad set a new school record that season with a .968 fielding percentage.

Prior to coaching at Valdosta, Croley spent three seasons working as an assistant coach at Embry-Riddle University located in Daytona Beach, Florida. He served as a hitting instructor while also coaching the Eagles' infielders and outfielders at different times during his time in Daytona. During each of his three seasons at ERU, the team reached the NAIA World Series.

Croley's coaching experience includes serving as an assistant coach at Brevard Community College and working as the infield instructor and third base coach for the Rockford Riverhawks of professional baseball's Frontier League.

As a player at Embry-Riddle during 2003, Croley helped lead the Eagles to the NAIA College World Series. He batted .336 and hit a team-high eight home runs while driving in 49 RBI. He also amassed 57 runs scored with 19 doubles and five triples while totaling 78 hits. On the base paths, he stole a team-best 32 bases in 37 attempts. His efforts that season led to an NAIA All-American title, and he also received All-NAIA Region XIV and All-Florida Sun Conference team honors.

Croley's collegiate career began at Brevard Community College where he earned JUCO All-American honors in 2001 while leading all Florida Junior College baseball players with a .432 batting average. He hit eight home runs, tallied 47 RBIand was named the conference's Player of the Year.

Croley earned his Bachelor's degree from Embry-Riddle in 2004 and a Master's degree in Exercise Science from Eastern Kentucky University in 2005. He and his wife, Erica, have a daughter, Anna Grace, and reside in Cleveland.