By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Six Ohio Valley Conference championships. Three NCAA Tournament appearances. Four 40-win seasons. Arguably the greatest single-season in program and OVC history. Numerous All-Americans and four OVC Coach of the Year honors. All of that history and experience will be back in Cookeville as Tennessee Tech Director of Athletics Mark Wilson announced the return of Matt Bragga as the Golden Eagle baseball program's head coach, effective as of Thursday, Nov. 11.
Already boasting the second-most wins in program history with 446 over his first stint as the head man of the purple and gold from 2004-18, Bragga returns to the Tennessee Tech campus after spending the past three seasons as the head coach at Rice University. Bragga takes over for Tech's previous skipper, Steve Smith, who manned the position for the 2020 and 2021 campaigns before recently announcing his resignation to take a position with the Detroit Tigers' organization.
The 13th head coach in Tech baseball history, Bragga will also represent the 16th in program history and return sporting the eighth-most victories in OVC history.
In his final season at the helm of the program, Bragga led the Golden Eagles to one of the most incredible seasons in Tech Athletics' history, if not OVC history, including a berth to the NCAA Super Regionals, a league-record 53 wins, and a final national ranking of 11th.
In his time in both Cookeville and at Tennessee Tech University, Bragga built a sustainable program that got the most out of his student-athletes, emphasis on students. His teams constantly achieved higher and higher GPA marks, represented well by not one, but two Academic All-Americans in 2018.
A more thorough release on the return of Bragga to the Golden Eagle baseball program will be released Thursday with his official announcement as the 16th head coach in Tech history. A reception to officially welcome back Bragga and his family to Cookeville and the Tennessee Tech campus will be held at a later date.
Photo by Thomas Corhern