By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Spending the summer assembling a new crew to help guide the Tennessee Tech baseball team into 2023 and beyond, Golden Eagle head coach Matt Bragga announced a brand new staff for the 2022-23 athletic year.
New to the program are assistant coaches Jim Miksis and Mikey White, as well as volunteer assistant coach Ben Brooks. A familiar face to the Golden Eagle faithful will return to Quillen Field and Bush Stadium at the Averitt Express Baseball Complex as well, albeit in a different role, with Larry "Coach 'B'" Bragga joining the staff as the director of player development.
Miksis joins the Golden Eagle staff after spending the past spring as an assistant baseball coach at Montgomery Academy in Montgomery, Ala. Prior to the spring, Miksis served in a number of roles at Lee-Scott Academy from 2011 to 2022, including head baseball coach of both junior varsity and varsity squads, teacher, and director of athletics.
"The opportunity to be back with Coach Bragga was too hard to pass up," Miksis expressed. "I had the opportunity to play for him and get to know him and stay and touch for so many years. I'm just really excited to be a part of this program and institution where Coach Bragga has had a chance to make so much history with the championships and success.
"I'm really excited to just get started, meet the players, and get to the season where we can establish some early momentum. I think this is a program where we can win many OVC Championships and I'm glad to be along for the ride."
During the 2009 season summer season, he handled daily operations for the Schaumburg Flyers, an independent league squad in Illinois, as the director of baseball operations. He also acted as the team's pitching coach. In 2008, he was the pitching coach for the Windy City Thunderbolts in Crestwood, Ill.
Before his stints as a pitching coach, Miksis was a clubhouse manager and instructional league coach for the Florida Marlins at their Class A-Advanced affiliate, the Jupiter Hammerheads. He also worked with Marlins' postseason minicamps.
He previously served as an assistant coach and head junior varsity coach at Faulkner University during the 2005 season and as a pitching coach for the Peninsula Pilots of the Coastal Plains League in 2004. Miksis spent time at Brewton-Parker College in 2004 as a pitching coach as well.
In addition to his coaching roles, Miksis has provided valuable insight on potential draft prospects to a pair of Major League organizations as an associate scout. He served in the role from 2006 to 2007 for the Boston Red Sox and, most recently, has worked with the Chicago Cubs from 2015-22.
During his playing days, Miksis got his collegiate career underway under the direction of Bragga at Bevill State Community College. He then transferred to Auburn, playing the 2003 and 2004 seasons for the Tigers.
Miksis went on to earn his bachelor's degree in wildlife science from Auburn in 2004 and later added a master's degree in science management in 2006 from Faulkner University. He resides in Cookeville with his wife Jennifer and daughter Lily Claire.
"I've known Coach Miksis since 1998," Bragga said of Miksis. "I recruited him to play for me in back at Bevill State Community College and knew he wanted to be a coach even then. I've followed his career ever since. He's been a college coach, a pro scout, and a high school coach. I just really love the guy. He's an amazing man and person who is so detail-oriented and so structured in everything he does. I'm just really excited to have him here and he will do a great job with our entire team."
White joins the Tech baseball staff following a one-year stint as an assistant coach for Trevecca Nazarene in Nashville. While serving as the team's hitting coach, he saw the Trojans improve dramatically on offense after batting .286 with 35 home runs and an .802 OPS as a unit in 2021. Under his watch in 2022, Trevecca hit a ridiculous .321 with a .971 OPS and conference records of 86 bombs and 464 runs scored.
He also served as an assistant coach at Ensworth High School in Nashville from 2020-21.
"I've known a lot about Tech and visited Cookeville for the past few years now," White explained. "My wife was born and raised in Cookeville. My in-laws both attended Tennessee Tech and still live here. I've heard a lot about the history of the program. I've heard how awesome Tennessee Tech is as a whole and how family-oriented it is. I just had twins a couple of weeks ago, so it's exciting to have that family atmosphere. It's just really exciting to be a part of the history that this baseball program, and the school in general, have.
"It's exciting to join a program directed by Coach Bragga and the history he has here. If you go around town, everyone knows Coach Bragga and they speak so highly of him. I'm new in my coaching career, so it's exciting to learn under somebody like him and grow as a coach and person. Our players aren't the only ones here that will be growing. We all will, and to have someone like him mentoring me and helping me as I'm just getting started is just awesome."
A standout at Alabama from 2013-15, White stated all 184 games at shortstop across his three-year career for the Crimson Tide, accumulating Freshman All-American, All-SEC Second Team, and two NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team honors along the way. He put together a .308/.403/.448 line throughout his career, posting more than 200 hits, 132 runs, 39 doubles, nine triples, 13 home runs, and 98 RBI.
After batting .339 with 74 hits, 48 runs, 19 doubles, six triples, four round-trippers, and 35 RBI as a junior, White became just the 11th member of the Crimson Tide to be selected in the first or second round of the MLB Draft, taken in the second round with the 63rd overall pick by the Oakland Athletics in 2015.
The Birmingham native spent six seasons with Athletics' organization, advancing as high as Triple-A with the Las Vegas Aviators. Enjoying perhaps his most success in 2019, White was selected as a Mid-Season All-Star while playing for the Double-A Midland Rockhounds of the Texas League, eventually earning his first call up to Triple-A ball.
During his prep career, White was originally selected by the New York Mets in the 34th round of the 2012 MLB Draft after collecting Mr. Baseball honors for the state of Alabama from the Alabama Sports Writers Association and earning Alabama Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year from ESPN. He also helped the 2011 USA Baseball U18 National Team capture a gold medal in the Pan American Games.
White earned his bachelor's degree in human environmental science from Alabama in 2021. He resides in Cookeville with his wife Lindsay and twin daughters Norah and Evie.
"I had the opportunity to get to know Mikey over the past six to eight months," Bragga said of White. "It was brought to my attention by someone locally that I might want to get to know him, so I reached out just to talk baseball and talk shop before we even had any openings. I got the chance to know him and really fell in love with him. I think he's a great young coach and he was a great player; a second-round draft pick. He's an infield guy and I think he's going to bring great energy and knowledge to our program. I'm excited about him and think he has a bright future."
Brooks joins the Golden Eagles after a strong, five-year career at Memphis, playing for longtime head coach and former Tennessee Tech hurler (1981-84) Daron Schoenrock from 2018-22. The Nashville native played in more than 200 games in his Tiger career, earning a starting role as a freshman infielder.
"I've heard so many great things about Coach Bragga and the program," Brooks said. "Being from the Nashville area, Cookeville isn't a crazy distance away, so I've had the chance to follow where this program's been and the success it's had. Now that Coach Bragga is back, it was one of those situations where I thought, 'man, I really need to find a way to get to this place.' I'm so fortunate he gave me this opportunity to start my coaching career at a great institution like Tennessee Tech.
"I'm just looking forward to learning. I'm new to this profession, but I've been excited about this opportunity for a long time. I think we have a great head coach and two great assistant coaches for me to learn from and I'm just so excited to soak in as much information as I can."
He racked up 210 hits, 141 runs, 33 doubles, 14 home runs, and 97 RBI for Memphis. In 2019 Brooks was a member of the AAC All-Academic Team and received the team's 2022 Baseball Tiger Spirit Award.
As a prep player at Pope John Paul II High School, he was named the 2017 Tennessee Mr. Baseball recipient for Division II-Class AA and was a two-time Region Player of the Year.
Brooks earned his bachelor's degree in sports management from Memphis in December 2021.
"Ben's energy is phenomenal," Bragga said of Brooks. "His work ethic is phenomenal. His playing career at Memphis was great. Multiple people and coaches I talked to about him had nothing but great things to say. Just getting to know him, I fell in love with the guy. He's an amazing young coach with an incredibly bright future ahead of him."
Coach 'B' will enter his 13th season as a member of the Golden Eagle baseball staff, returning to Cookeville to serve as the director of player development. Prior to his return to Tech, Coach "B" served as the director of baseball player development at Rice University under Matt Bragga.
"We fell in love with Tennessee Tech and Cookeville when we were here for those 12 years [previously]," the elder Bragga expressed. "I'm excited and my wife is excited about being back. She's a great baseball fans and we love the kids. We're here to help get things going again as much as we can.
"I think the anticipation of trying to get things back to that competitive level as before is most exciting. Matt left the program in great shape and I think the process of seeing how quickly we can get back to some really good, top-tier results in the OVC is exciting."
Larry graduated from the Ohio State University (BS in Biology) and from Kent State University (M.ED in Secondary Administration). A 60-year native of Jefferson, OH, Larry spent six years as a high school biology teacher, and baseball and basketball coach at Ashtabula Harbor High School. After spending two years as a junior/senior high school assistant principal, the next twenty-four years were devoted to secondary administration as a principal in Jefferson then Painesville Riverside in Ohio. After retiring he spent several years as an educational consultant and administrator in Ashtabula County, Jefferson, and Painesville City.
He has coached, recruited athletes, and directed operations for Matt at Bevill State Community College in Fayette, Alabama, and during his first twelve years at Tennessee Tech.
Larry and his wife Carol live in Cookeville. They are the proud grandparents of Luke, Emerson, and Elle.
"I'm as thrilled as can be to have Coach 'B' back," the younger Bragga explained. "He's my guy. He's our wisdom. If I ever have a question about something that maybe some young coaches don't know, I can go to him and he provides such great wisdom. He'll fill a role more on the player development side and just evaluating our program while continuing to give me advice on how to make sure we are the best we can possibly be. He's been around the block and around college baseball such a long time and provides great advice about both baseball and life. We're happy to have him back."
