Goldsboro native Chris Wiley named new head baseball coach at Limestone

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on July 5, 2014 11:07 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

GAFFNEY, S.C. -- Limestone's baseball team seeks a new culture, a winning attitude and a competitive desire when it steps on the diamond next spring.

Chris Wiley believes it can happen.

But the new head coach of an embattled program less than three decades old doesn't expect to perform a miracle overnight. The biggest challenge Wiley faces is getting the returning players fully involved in the program, and receiving support from the alumni and community as well.

"We don't have a very good culture right now," said Wiley, a Goldsboro native and 1998 alum of Southern Wayne High School.

"It's always easy to under sell and under deliver. We want to change the winning attitude because we haven't had that in a long time here. We've got to get this program back on the right foot."

Wiley is the third head baseball coach in Limestone's 27-year history. Major League Hall-of-Famer Gaylord Perry started the program in 1988, and Chico Lombardo spent 14 seasons in the dugout as the school transitioned from NAIA to Division II.

Limestone joined Conference Carolinas in 1999.

"To be able to turn over the leadership of our baseball program to an individual with both the coaching background and institutional knowledge, Chris Wiley is very important to us," said Mike Cerino, vice president for intercollegiate athletics at Limestone.

"Chris has been with our program for seven years, has Division I head coaching experience and is someone who is ready to lead this team to the next level."

The Saints have cobbled out 20-win seasons on 16 occasions during the program's Division II era, but challenged for conference supremacy just three times. Limestone won the 2005 regular-season crown and finished runner-up in 2000 and 2011.

None of those teams survived the conference tournament.

Not surprisingly, Wiley wants the program to reach heights comparable to the University of Mount Olive, which has been the league's elite program for nearly two decades. The Trojans captured the Division II College World Series title in 2008.

Limestone much achieve its short-term goals first.

Wiley plans to change the structure of practices, make them more intense and game-like. He and his staff plan to upgrade their recruiting standards and not leave a stone unturned when scouting prep talent in South Carolina.

"We're going to recruit some hard-nosed, northern JUCO kids (and) we really have to hit high school kids in South Carolina early to get them away from some of the bigger Division I schools," Wiley said. "We have to have that scrappy kid who is going to show up every day in practice."

The Saints are projected to return 20 players off of last year's team that finished 21-30 overall and 8-13 against conference opposition. The program did lose some recruits after Lombardo's departure.

Administrators took about two months to hire Wiley, who has settled himself and his family -- wife Caroline and two children, Drake and Reese -- in Gaffney for the long haul.

"We're going to get after it in practice throughout the fall and spring, so when it comes game time, it's an every day occurrence for them," Wiley said. "I am looking forward to the challenge ... expect to compete at a high level next season and years to come."