Baseball

Boasting over 40 years of coaching experience, and numerous years of working with best in college and professional baseball, Cooper Farris is in his first season as an assistant coach for the Tennessee Tech baseball team.

“I think it’s incredible to have a guy [on staff] with his experience in the game and his experience with so many great players,” Smith said. “I think it would be hard to find someone in today’s game that has as much experience with so many Major League players as Cooper has.”

“Steve called me right after he got the job [at Tech] asking if I’d come up and help him get this thing goin’ with him,” Farris explained. “I watched them [Tech] in the playoffs a couple years ago and I thought they were very disciplined. They looked like they loved to play the game, so just watching that and knowing what Steve is going to do with this program, it was a big positive and easy sell.”

Farris spent the better part of four decades serving in a number of coaching and scouting roles, often in year-round capacity. Most recently he was an assistant coach for the Kingsport Mets the rookie advanced affiliate of the New York Mets during the 2018 campaign. He has also served as an associate scout with the Mets since 2009. Farris was an associate scout for the Atlanta Braves from 1991-2009.

“I also have family over in Kinsport and the Knoxville areas and some over in the Murfreesboro area, so I know this region pretty well,” Farris added. “I coached the [New York] Mets’ minor league team in Kingsport in 2018, so I’ve been around and know the area pretty well.”

From 2001-2015, Farris served as the head coach of the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape Cod Summer Collegiate Baseball League, widely accepted as the top summer league in college baseball. He led the Gatemen to championships in 2001, 2002 and 2012, mentoring some of the best players in the country, including current Big Leaguers Kyle Schwarber, George Springer, Dallas Keuchel and Max Muncy to name a few.

“I think this situation will be pretty similar to how I was used to doing it on the Cape,” Farris explained. “I’m coming into a situation where I don’t really know the guys. Up there, every year, we bring in new guys, so it’s just hurry up and play. And that’s kind of what we have now, just hurry up and play. I think that experience will help out with trying to get things going. It’s not like we’ve had all fall to work on these things. We have to cram a lot of stuff into a small period of time.”

Additionally, he was the head coach of the Harrisonburg Turks of the Shenandoah Valley Summer Collegiate League from 1995-2000.

The majority of Farris’ experience at the collegiate level came as the head coach of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, where he spent 20 years (1989-2009) compiling a 698-362 record, pair of state titles and appearance in the 1991 NJCAA Baseball World Series.

Prior to his time at MGCCC, he spent over 10 years as a head baseball coach at the high school level, with stops at Victoria Stroman High School (1988-89), Diboll High School (1984-88) and Stone County High School (1978-84). Farris got his start in coaching as a graduate assistant for Delta State University from 1976-77.

A highly decorated career, Farris’ honors are highlighted by inductions into the Delta State Athletic Hall of Fame (2012), Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Hall of Fame (2010) and the Mississippi Baseball Congress Hall of Fame (2001). He’s earned a total of 13 Coach of the Year honors throughout his lengthy career and at nearly every level of the game.  

“I’m just looking forward to watching and being around the guys and just trying to help them get better,” Farris said. “It’s a very good bunch. They work hard and the ones we’ve been around so far have adjusted well. They’re trying some new things and experimenting a little bit. These guys [Wright and Walters] have done a great job with them. They did a great job of holding everything together.”

Farris played two seasons for Mississippi Gulf Coast before finishing his collegiate career at Delta State. He earned his bachelor’s from Delta State in math and physical education in 1976 and collected a master’s degree in physical education from the school in 1977.

“He’s here to run the offense and provide me with some objective eyes,” Smith said of Farris’ role with the team. “He’s what I would call a baseball guy. I think Cooper could coach anything. He’s been around all facets of the game, all sides of the game. I’m going to turn the offense loose to him and I believe that is where he will have his biggest impact.”