Lipscomb University assistant Brad Coon replaces Ernie Smith as Lipscomb Academy baseball coach

Former Lipscomb University assistant baseball coach Brad Coon has been named the next Lipscomb Academy baseball coach, replacing Ernie Smith.

Smith, who was the Fred Russell Lifetime Achievement Award recipient at the Tennessean Sports Awards presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans in June, retired as baseball coach last month.

Smith won more than 950 baseball games and more than 900 girls basketball games before retiring from Lipscomb Academy after the 2017-18 school year. 

Coon played eight minor-league seasons for the Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Washington Nationals and Tampa Bay Rays organizations. He starts at Lipscomb Academy on Nov. 1.

Coon has spent the past five years as an assistant for Lipscomb University coach Jeff Forehand.

Coon was an outfielder for Forehand at Trevecca in 2004 and 2005 and was the TranSouth Athletic Conference and NAIA Region XI Player of the Year in 2005.

He was selected in the 15th round by the Anaheim Angels in the 2005 MLB Draft. He is the highest draft pick and one of only eight players ever drafted at Trevecca.