Mike Tidick
1/5/2012 5:04:00 AM | General
Also entering his 13th year on the Georgia Southern staff working with Head Coach Rodney Hennon, Mike Tidick continues to build on his reputation as one of the top offensive coaches and recruiters around. Prior to the BBCOR era in 2011, none of his teams hit lower thatn .295 in a season going back to his first assistant coaching job at Elon in 1997. Tidick has also had 21 players continue their careers in the professional ranks during his 16 year coaching career.
Since joining the Georgia Southern staff in August of 1999 Tidick has coached 17 Eagles who have been taken in the draft. He has had a player selected in nine of his 12 seasons as hitting coach at GSU. After returning for his senior year, Tidick helped Shawn Payne improve from a 44th round selection in 2010 to a 35th round pick in 2011. In 2009 he had two players selected in Griffin Benedict and Ty Wright. Benedict was a 16th round selection of the Sand Diego Padres and reached AAA in his first season. Wright was also selected by the Padres in the 25th round.
Last Season Tidick helped mold Victor Roache from a .252 batting average with eight home his freshman season in 2010 into the NCAA's home run leader with 30 bombs in 2011. Roache garned five All-America honors after setting new Southern Conference and school records in home runs. In just his sophomore season in the program, Roache hit .326 with 30 home runs and 84 RBIs to go along with a .778 slugging percentage.
Two more players were drafted in 2008. Jeremy Beckham was a 17th round draft pick by Tampa Bay and Shehan in the 30th round by Atlanta. Shehan was the Southern Conference Player of the Year that season and is one of four Players of the Year Tidick has worked with during his career. Shehan was one of 16 semifinalists for the prestigious Dick Howser Award and one of the final 50 for the Brooks Wallace Award and Golden Spikes Award, given to the National Player of the Year. Shehan was the only representative from the Southern Conference on either list, and would also be named SoCon 'Player of the Year' by the Sports Media Association. Shehan capped his impressive junior year by earning various First Team All-America accolades.
Tidick also coached Martin Barrow and Chris Moore to Player of the Year Awards at Western Carolina and helped Matt Easterday to the same award in 2000 in his first season as a coach with the Eagles. Moore was an 11th round selection of the Colorado Rockies in 1999, while Easterday was a 21st round pick of the Florida Marlins. Other draft notables from Tidick's coaching career at Western Carolina include Eric Johnson who was a third round pick by the Cleveland Indians and Charles Thomas who played two seasons in the Major Leagues. Thomas hit .288 in 83 games with the Atlanta Braves in his debut season in 2004.
In 2008 the Eagles put up staggering offensive numbers, not only program record-setting numbers but also statistics that ranked among the nation's best. The Eagles finished nationally ranked in various offensive categories: second in batting average (.346); second in scoring (10.3 runs per game); fourth in doubles (2.66 p/g); second in HR (114); second in slugging pct. (.584); 13th in walks (302); and 15th in stolen bases (108).
One of the most impressive offensive displays - not only in Georgia Southern history but in the nation - came in mid-March 2008 at home against Columbia. The Eagles slammed a NCAA Division I record 14 home runs during a 26-8 rout of the Lions. When it was all said and done, five hitters earned All-Southern Conference honors that season. Chris Shehan and Ty Wright would also receive All-Atlantic Region and All-America accolades as well.
Working with an offensive line-up that had at times six freshmen starting, the 2006 squad hit .304 overall. He oversaw another stellar offensive production as the Eagles hit .331 during the 2005 campaign, the fifth-highest team batting average in the nation and third-best in Southern history.
Prior to 2005, nine Eagles batted .400 for the season and never during the same year. That changed when James Payne (.407) and Greg Dowling (.400) accomplished the feat. Jason Hurst put together the second and third longest hitting streak in GS history, 25 consecutive from his junior year into senior season, then 24 later in his final year. Not only did Tidick's players have impressive batting averages, they rarely strike out. Dowling (20th), Brent Stephens (29th) and Payne (100th) ranked among the 2005 national leaders in toughest to strikeout. The Eagles also ranked 11th nationally in slugging percentage, 22nd in doubles, 25th in scoring and 47th in stolen bases. The 139 doubles and 1,077 total bases both ranked at the time as the second-most in the GSU record book.
The 2002 Eagle team was similarly impressive. Georgia Southern completed the campaign ranked in the 'Top 30' in the nation in hitting at .321, a mark that at the time ranked third on the Eagles' season record list. The Eagles were also ranked sixth nationally in stolen bases with 151, breaking a Georgia Southern record that had stood for 27 years.
The 2001 squad ranked third in history in at-bats, runs scored, and RBI while also ranking among the top five in hits (fourth), doubles (fourth) and total bases (fifth). On top of that the Eagles finished just 14 stolen bases shy of breaking the school mark.
Tidick joined GS during the summer shortly after coach Rodney Hennon's arrival in 1999 after spending the two previous seasons at Western working on Hennon's coaching staff. Inheriting just four regulars off Georgia Southern's offensive lineup from the 1999 season, Tidick began to meticulously work on fostering a new aggressive approach which helped translate into a Southern Conference championship in 2000.
The statistical results were equally impressive. The Eagles turned in a batting average over .300 for only the third time in the previous 10 years, hit 60 or more home runs for only the third time in nine years and endured the fewest strikeouts in seven seasons.
"Mike is certainly a quality coach and a quality person," said Hennon. "He's a big asset to our program, coordinating our recruiting efforts. In addition, he is responsible for our outfield play and hitting, an area where he has a proven track record. We have a good feel and know what to expect out of each other."
In 1998, he helped guide the Catamounts to a 45-15 overall record which equaled the school standard, and a 20-6 SoCon mark. Western Carolina followed up the 1998 season with a 36-23-1 mark, boasting to have the SoCon's top offensive squad with league bests in average (.328), on-base percentage (.523), runs (502), hits (684), home runs (82), and runs batted in (445).
Prior to his move to Cullowhee, Tidick spent the 1997 season as an assistant coach at Elon after serving in a similar capacity at Coastal Carolina in 1996.
Tidick first arrived at Western Carolina in 1989 after an illustrious career at Union-Endicott (N.Y.) High School. After sitting out all of WCU's 1990 campaign following surgery, he turned in the first of four consecutive .300-plus hitting seasons when he batted .302 his rookie season. As the Catamounts' everyday centerfielder in 1992, he was named Second Team All-Southern Conference hitting .328 and stealing 21 bases while helping WCU advance all the way to the NCAA South II Regional title game.
He led Western back to a NCAA Regional (South I) as a junior, earning SoCon All-Tournament Team honors in 1993 after his average jumped to .352 with 19 doubles and 13 home runs.
Tidick topped off an outstanding collegiate career in '94 as he was named SoCon 'Player of the Year' by batting .376 with 15 home runs, 17 doubles, 58 RBI and 20 stolen bases. In addition, he played errorless defense as the Catamounts received an at-large bid to the NCAA East Regional.
Upon leaving Western Carolina, he ranked fourth in hits (270), seventh in RBI (158), third in doubles (54) and second in stolen bases on Western Carolina's all-time career list. Among the Southern Conference leaders, Tidick stands 18th all-time in hits.
After graduating from WCU in 1994 with a degree in Secondary Education, Tidick signed a professional contract with the Chicago White Sox and subsequently played in the Gulf Coast League (Sarasota, Fla.) and South Atlantic League (Hickory, N.C.) in 1994 and 1995, respectively.
Tidick is married to the former Lori Bingham of Cherryville, N.C. They are the parents of a son Ty and daughter Lorin Elizabeth.
