Lane Burroughs Head Coach

Burroughs joined the LA Tech family in 2017 after spending four years as the head baseball coach at Northwestern State, where he compiled 113 wins and led the Demons to three straight 30-win seasons from 2014-16.

In 2017, Tech drew a record number of season ticket holders that saw a 22-7 record in Ruston. The Bulldogs also held the nation's longest home winning streak after knocking off nationally-ranked Arkansas on February 28.

Burroughs saw three players selected in the 2017 MLB Draft, as pitcher Nate Harris (Conference USA Pitcher of the Year), catcher Brent Diaz (Johnny Bench Award Finalist) and outfielder Raphael Gladu (First Team All-Conference USA) all heard their names called to compete at the next level.

Burroughs joined the LA Tech family after spending the past four years as the head baseball coach at Northwestern State, where he compiled 113 wins and led the Demons to three straight 30-win seasons from 2014-16.

In his final three seasons in Natchitoches, Burroughs guided Northwestern State to a 97-73 record and qualified for the Southland Conference Tournament each year, while the Demons averaged 19.7 conference wins in that span.

“We were focused and committed to finding a coach that could build on the success that the baseball team had this past season,” McClelland said. “We wanted a coach that would embody all of the qualities of a leader that we have come to expect at Louisiana Tech. Lane showed these leadership qualities during his time at Northwestern State where he rebuilt that program. With Lane, we have found a man who will fit our culture and who will lead Bulldog baseball into the future.

Burroughs replaced Greg Goff, who led LA Tech to a 67-47 record in two seasons and the program’s first NCAA Regional appearance in 29 years before accepting the position of head coach at the University of Alabama last week.

In 2016, the Meridian, Mississippi, native led Northwestern State to a 33-24 record, while the Demons recorded back-to-back seasons of 20 Southland Conference victories and ended the season No. 47 in the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index (RPI).

“I am thrilled for the opportunity to be the head baseball coach at Louisiana Tech for a program with such a rich history,” Burroughs said. “This is the place I want to be and it is the right time for our family. This baseball program is in a great place and we have a great foundation to build on moving forward. I cannot wait to get started right off the bat and hit the ground running. My family and I are excited about joining this community and building relationships with the people of Ruston starting today.”

After being named head coach at Northwestern State in 2013, Burroughs was tasked with the job of rebuilding the historic baseball program and delivered soon after taking over the helm. Burroughs guided the Demons to the largest turnaround in Southland Conference history after NSU increased its league win total from 2013 to 2014 by 14 to finish third in the Southland, while NSU also tied the school record for the largest increase in total wins from a previous season with 17 more victories than the previous season.

Prior to being named the Demons skipper in 2013, Burroughs spent a total of 17 years as an assistant coach at Mississippi College (1996), East Mississippi Community College (1997), Northwestern State (1998), Southern Miss (1999-2007), Kansas State (2008) and Mississippi State (2009-12). In all, the 21-year veteran has coached in the SEC, Big 12, Conference USA and Southland Conference.

Burroughs spent four seasons as the recruiting coordinator and assistant under John Cohen at Mississippi State from 2009-12, while the new LA Tech skipper also brings nine years of Conference USA experience with him to Ruston after he spent time on Corky Palmer’s staff at Southern Miss from 1999-2007. Burroughs served as the hitting coach, recruiting coordinator and infield coach for the Golden Eagles and helped lead Southern Miss to six NCAA Regional appearances in nine seasons before spending one year coaching in the Big 12 as an assistant at Kansas State.

Early in his coaching career, Burroughs also spent the 1998 season as an assistant under Cohen, who was the head coach at Northwestern State, as the two helped lead the Demons to 40 wins and a Southland Conference title.

Burroughs began his coaching career in 1996 as a graduate assistant at Mississippi College before spending the 1997 season as an assistant at East Mississippi Community College.

As an assistant, Burroughs has coached eight NCAA Regional tournament teams.

During his playing career, Burroughs spent two years at Meridian Community College where he helped lead the Eagles to back-to-back Region 23 championships and the NJCAA College World Series in 1993. From 1994-95, Burroughs was an outfielder and catcher for Mississippi College and earned first team All-Gulf South Conference honors.

Burroughs studied pre-law at Mississippi College, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1995, before earning his master’s in social sciences in 1996.

Burroughs and his wife, Susan, have three children: Parker Grace (19), Camryn Laine (17) and Thomas Jackson (13).

Mitch Gaspard Associate Head Coach

Mitch Gaspard is set to enter his fourth year at Louisiana Tech.

Gaspard, who primarily works with the team’s hitters, led the bats to a No. 1 ranking in doubles (143) in C-USA and guided three Bulldogs to a batting average over .300, including Taylor Young (.364), Cole McConnell (.336) and Steele Netterville (.313). Three Bulldog hitters earned All-Conference honors after remarkable seasons at the plate while Young also notched ABCA All-American honors as he ranked first in the nation for the second straight year in runs scored. McConnell also broke the single-season RBI record at Tech and finished 13th in the country with 76. On August 4, 2021, Gaspard was elevated to the program's associate head coach.

In 2021, Gaspard guided the Bulldogs to a conference-best .306 batting average. Six Bulldogs with at least 100 at-bats batted over .300 in 2021, including First Team All-Conference USA honorees Hunter Wells (.385), Parker Bates (.346), Taylor Young (.331) and Manny Garcia (.309). Gaspard also helped coach second-year player Cole McConnell to a spot on the C-USA All-Freshman Team after McConnell sported the third-best batting average against league opponents.

In 2020, the Bulldogs had six batters who hit over .300 in the COVID-19-shortened season, including Parker Bates (.422) and Steele Netterville (.407). The Bulldogs averaged over eight runs per game in 2020 and scored five runs or more in 10 of the team’s 17 contests.

Gaspard served as the volunteer assistant for the Georgia Bulldogs in the 2019 season. Gaspard was part of a staff that guided Georgia to its 12^th NCAA Regional appearance and its sixth as a regional host (#4 national seed).

A native of Port Arthur, Texas, Gaspard holds a career head coaching record of 444-331 with Northwestern State (2002-07) and Alabama (2010-16).

He began his lengthy coaching career as an assistant coach at Houston (1988) with stops at UL-Lafayette (1989-92), Northwestern State (1993-94), Alabama (1995-2001) before taking his first head coaching job in Natchitoches. Gaspard then returned to Alabama as an assistant for the 2008 & 09 seasons before being named the head coach of the Crimson Tide in 2010.

In seven seasons with the Crimson Tide, he compiled a record of 234-193 (.548) and made four NCAA Regional appearances (2010, 11, 12, 14) along with one Super Regional appearance (2010).

Over his seven years as the Alabama skipper, Gaspard coached one first team All-American, four freshmen All-Americans, has had two national Gold Glove Award winners, three ABCA All-South Region selections, seven All-SEC honorees, six SEC All-Freshman Team picks, two SEC All-Defensive team recipient, and 71 players earn SEC Academic Honor Roll recognition.

Prior to last season's stint in Athens, Gaspard was the associate head coach at Kansas State from 2017-18.

As an assistant with the Ragin' Cajuns in 89-92, Gaspard helped guide the program to three NCAA Regional appearances along with three conference titles.

While at Northwestern State, he compiled a head coaching record of 211-128 (.622) and led the Demons to two Southland Conference championships, one SLC Tournament championship and a spot in the 2005 NCAA Baton Rouge Regional.

Gaspard's four-year collegiate playing career between LSU and Houston saw his teams compile a 148-91 (.619) overall record, post two 40-win seasons and play in a pair of NCAA Regionals (1985 and 1987). He began his career at LSU in 1984 and 1985, earning one varsity letter on Skip Bertman's first LSU squad in 1984. The 1984 edition of the Tigers posted a 32-23 overall record.

Cooper Fouts Recruiting Coordinator & Pitching/Catching Coordinator

Cooper Fouts heads into his second year serving as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator for the Bulldogs.

In his first year, Fouts led the Tech arms to a record 606 strikeouts in a single season. The staff as a whole finished ninth in the nation in walks per nine (3.06), ninth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.12) and 16th in WHIP (1.30). The Bulldogs tossed three shutouts in 2022 and held opponents to a .252 batting average.

Three pitchers took home All-Conference honors, two with ABCA/Rawlings South All-Region honors and Ryan Harland earned Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-America honors after posting impressive numbers including a 46-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio out of the Tech bullpen.

After being hired by and working under then-Purdue head coach Mark Wasikowski during the 2018-19 school year, former LA Tech head coach and current Purdue skipper Greg Goff chose to retain Fouts as an assistant when Goff was elevated to head coach at Purdue in June 2019.

Fouts has 16 seasons of collegiate coaching experience, highlighted by five seasons over two stints at Pepperdine (2011-12, 2016-18). At Purdue, Fouts led the recruiting efforts alongside the rest of the Purdue staff. He also coached and developed Boilermaker catchers and assisted with the Purdue offense.

Before arriving at Purdue, current Pepperdine head coach Rick Hirtensteiner brought Fouts back to California in the summer of 2015. Fouts has also served as an assistant coach at Utah Valley (2013-15), College of Southern Nevada (2007-10) and Lubbock Christian University (2006). His final season at CSN featured Bryce Harper winning the Golden Spikes Award and being selected No. 1 overall in the 2010 MLB Draft. The Coyotes won 52 games and finished third at JUCO World Series that season.

Fouts helped Pepperdine win West Coast Conference titles in 2012 and 2018. He worked under current Baylor head coach Steve Rodriguez during his first term with the Waves.

In his second stint at Pepperdine, Fouts' recruits helped the program post an 11-win improvement in 2018. The Waves won the WCC with a 17-10 record after being 8-19 the year prior. Pepperdine's 2012 team won 36 games and was a finalist at the Palo Alto Regional.

Fouts also served as a recruiting coordinator at Utah Valley, where he helped the Wolverines win 71 games over three seasons. He played a key role in helping build a roster that went on to lead Utah Valley to 37 wins and an NCAA Regional berth in 2016 as the Western Athletic Conference Tournament champion.

In Fouts' final season at College of Southern Nevada, nine pitchers were drafted and 14 more student-athletes were signed by NCAA Division I programs. CSN won three conference titles, two Region 18 championships and Western District tournament in 2010 during his four seasons on the coaching staff.

Fouts graduated from Las Vegas' baseball powerhouse Bishop Gorman High School in 2001. He was selected in the 26th round of the MLB Draft by the Oakland Athletics, but he opted to enroll at the College of Southern Nevada. After one season, he made the move to the Division I level where he played in over 150 games as a three-year starting catcher for Texas Tech from 2003-05.

Fouts was part of a pair of NCAA Tournament wins as a junior at Texas Tech. He helped TTU's 2004 team win 40 games and earn the No. 2 seed at the Atlanta Regional. As the Red Raiders' starting catcher in all four games of the regional, he helped TTU defeat Mississippi State twice and earned a spot on the All-Regional Team. He was recognized as honorable mention All-Big 12 as a senior after again being among the top defensive backstops and top-throwing catchers in the league.

The former Red Raider earned his bachelor’s degree in exercise sports science from Texas Tech in 2006. He and his wife, Bri, were married in 2010 and have three children – Harper, Emmit and Nash.

Matt Miller Associate Pitching Coach

In his second season with the Bulldogs in 2021, Miller was named a semifinalist for 11Point7’s Golden Fungo Volunteer Assistant award, which honors the best volunteer assistant coach in college baseball. Miller is set to enter his fourth season as Assistant Pitching Coach in 2023.

Miller also works with pitching coach and recruiting coordinator Cooper Fouts and the Bulldog pitching staff. LA Tech finished ninth in the nation in walks per nine, ninth in strikeout-to-walk ratio and 18th in WHIP in 2022 and has now been a part of back-to-back NCAA Regional appearances and a 2022 Conference USA Tournament Championship.

Miller takes over as the volunteer assistant coach and will primarily work with pitchers. He will also run Louisiana Tech baseball camps and handle operational duties.

Miller posted a 4.09 ERA over 200.1 innings with the Bulldogs after transferring from Heartland Community College. He was the primary Friday starter as a redshirt junior and senior, during which time he struck out three batters for every one he walked.

Last season, the Aurora, Ill. native earned Second Team All-Conference honors. Among league leaders, Miller ranked sixth in ERA (3.24), fourth in opposing batting average (.224), seventh in innings pitched (83.1), fifth in strikeouts (97) and first in strikeouts looking (38). His 97 punchouts during the regular season were the most by a Bulldog pitcher since 2007.

Miller mostly recently spent the summer pitching for the Schaumburg Boomers in the Frontier League. He struck out 70 batters in 64.2 innings (9.74 K/9) and posted a 4.79 ERA.