ROCKINGHAM — It’s always been in the cards for Eric Brown that when the head baseball coach position became next available at Richmond, he’d go all in to try and coach where he went to high school.
Last Thursday, the Richmond County Board of Education approved the Hamlet native’s hiring as the Raiders new coach. Brown, a 2002 graduate of Richmond, will take over for former coach Rob Ransom, who retired in June.
Brown’s full-circle journey started with the help of Jeff Gregory, Wingate University’s current head baseball coach, over a decade ago.
“When I was playing, I never thought about coaching,” Brown explained. “Coach Gregory asked me if I’d be interested in coaching and I fell in love with it. Once I got into high school coaching, I thought it’d be really cool to end up back at Richmond. I told myself that if the opportunity came up, I’d reach out to Mr. (Jim) Butler.
“It’s definitely exciting, really surreal,” he added of his new position. “The big thing for me is to get in there and meet the players and do right by them. I want to give them the best high school baseball experience they can possibly have.”
Finding his love for the game while playing for Hamlet Junior High School and Richmond, Brown brings with him a wealth of playing and coaching experience.
A two-year varsity player for the Raiders and former coach Ronnie Yarbrough, he saw his pitching career take off his senior season.
That led to a three-year career at Wingate University (37 appearances, 13-13 career record, 4.59 career earned run average and 234 career strikeouts), before getting drafted by the New York Mets in the 18th round of the 2005 MLB June Amatuer Draft.
In five minor league seasons (2005-2009), Brown reached AA ball with the Binghamton Mets for two of them. Following his professional career, he returned to Wingate as the program’s pitching coach for the 2011, 2013 and 2014 seasons.
Richmond will be the fourth stop in Brown’s nine-year coaching career. He started at West Charlotte High School (2015-2016 seasons) before completing a six-year tenure at E.A. Laney High School in Wilmington (2017-2022 seasons).
This past school year, Brown coached at Cox Mill High School in Concord. At Richmond, he will serve as a physical education teacher, taking the spot left open by newly-hired athletic director Mike Way.
Over the past nine seasons, Brown has collected a 68-90 overall record as a head coach, including a 2-3 mark in the postseason. His best outing was in 2019 when the Buccaneers went 15-10, finished third in the conference and made it to the third round of the NCHSAA 4A state playoffs.
During his playing days with the Raiders, Brown remembers the excitement and success of the program. In 2000, his sophomore season, he watched as the varsity team competed in the 4A state championship series against Apex High School.
Brown said one of the cornerstones in taking over the program will be to “build back the tradition” of Raider baseball.
He added that “the best thing about it is the way the community rallies around the school and its athletics, so I’m ready to get the community excited about Raider baseball.”
A lifelong student of the game, Brown said he’s constantly learning from other coaches and attending clinics as part of a “nonstop process” to get better, something he hopes will permeate Richmond’s program.
Pointing to his collegiate and professional playing careers, Brown said outside of what he’s learned about the game itself, there is one thing he knows must happen in order for Richmond to be successful.
“The key is really understanding how a locker room can make or break a baseball team and culture,” Brown explained. “The guys have to be a close-knit group and play for each other and for the school.”
He added that what he believes is his strongest characteristic as a coach is his ability to bind that cohesiveness with getting results on the diamond.
“I’ve got some players who will back this up, but I relate well with players,” Brown said. “I had to learn to be demanding as a coach, but as long as players know you have their back, we can all work together.
“One of my favorite quotes is to have ‘players run through a brick wall with me.’ I want them to know I’ll coach them hard, but I’m with them. The more successful coaches are the ones who can do that.”
Another area Brown hopes to build upon is strengthening the grassroot baseball programs in the county, which he believes will better the Raiders in the long run. Annual youth camps are also tools he hopes to utilize.
“It all starts with the youth leagues, and we have the benefit of having one high school in the county,” Brown shared. “That means all the youth baseball is ours and all the middle schools are our feeder programs.
“I want to try to figure out ways to breathe life back into rec ball so when those kids get to Richmond, they have an understanding of what we’re about and they can step in and play.”
While at Laney, Brown started the Port City Post 545 American Legion baseball team. A big supporter of Legion ball, he plans to work with the Hamlet Post 49 program to better develop local talent.
Above all else, Brown knows he’s inheriting a program full of student-athletes and said the success of Raider baseball starts in the classroom.
“Academics will be our No. 1 goal and I want to have a program that’s recognized as a scholar-athlete team,” he said. “The guys have to do their part in the classroom first.
“Education is important, and I tell players that academics can help them play at the next level. There’s a big correlation between being successful academically and with baseball.”
Also a big advocate for weight training, Brown hopes to use the weight room as an asset to “speed up the development process and get players as strong as possible while they wait to hit their growth spurt.”
Planning on centering development both in-season and during the offseason, Brown noted the weight room “builds toughness and character.”
Of his vision for where he wants to take Raider baseball, Brown said the plan is simple.
“We want to be a playoff team every year, but we have to get the conference back in our favor,” he closed. “Growing up, it was always us and Scotland. Now Pinecrest has made a big jump.
“My goal is to restore the winning baseball tradition at Richmond and become a program that hosts a lot of playoff games.”
Brown will relocate to his hometown this summer, along with his wife Lindsey, their son Baker and the family dog Sinker.
