Tim Hudson leaves Auburn baseball after 3 seasons on staff; Tigers hire new pitching coach
AUBURN — Tim Hudson is leaving Auburn baseball after three years as his alma mater's pitching coach.
The former two-way star player has taken a head coaching job at Lee-Scott Academy in Auburn, where his son will be a high school senior this year. Hudson has two daughters attending AU.
The Tigers have hired Daron Schoenrock as Hudson's replacement. Schoenrock joins Auburn from Memphis, where he was head coach for the last 18 seasons. His 38-year coaching career also included SEC stints at Kentucky, Georgia and Mississippi State.
He and Auburn head coach Butch Thompson coached together at Birmingham-Southern from 1991-92 and 1994-96.
Schoenrock's decision to stay in coaching comes after he said in January he planned to retire after this season.
"It is a tremendous honor to join Coach Thompson and the entire Auburn baseball family,” the new pitching coach said in a school release. “The culture he has built, the staff he has assembled, and the success they have achieved are second to none. I can’t wait to build upon the outstanding groundwork that has been established for Auburn Tiger pitching by Coach Thompson and Coach Hudson."
Hudson is credited with (and declines credit for) helping Auburn closer Blake Burkhalter develop his cutter. That was the pitch that guided the Tigers to the 2022 College World Series – their second in four years – and helped Burkhalter become a second-round MLB Draft by the Atlanta Braves.
The same Braves that inducted Hudson into their franchise Hall of Fame in 2018. Hudson spent nine of his 17 professional seasons in Atlanta, starting 243 games with a 3.56 ERA and 997 strikeouts. He was 90 minutes from Auburn, where he had a historic 1997 season. As a hitter, he batted .396 with 18 home runs and 95 RBIs. As a pitcher, he was 15-2 with a 2.97 ERA.
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Hudson was the centerpiece of that College World Series team.
Twenty-five years later, he was back for the first time as a coach this summer.
"It’s really gratifying as a coach to see your players that you’ve worked with, see them have success," Hudson told the Advertiser before the CWS. "It’s different as a player than as a coach. As a player, it was really exciting. You’re in the moment. As a coach, you take it all in. Take the big picture in."
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Tim Hudson leaves Auburn baseball as Tigers hire new pitching coach
