Brad Wilkerson joins Head Coach Chris Hayes' staff with Jacksonville University baseball as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the 2020-21 season.
Wilkerson, an eight-year Major League Baseball veteran, has had a productive post-playing career as a high school coach and a coach with USA Baseball.
"We are so excited to have Brad join our coaching staff," said Hayes. "He is one of the most successful two-way players in the history of college baseball. He was dominant on the mound and feared at the plate.
"He was a great player, but is even a better coach. He knows the game and is a tremendous communicator. His passion, energy and work ethic are contagious and will be so beneficial for our guys."
Wilkerson, an Owensboro, Ky. native, played collegiately at Florida, where he excelled as a two-way player who earned First-Team All-American honors three times and helped lead the Gators to the College World Series in 1996 and 1998. He was the first player in college baseball history to hit 20 home runs, steal 20 bases and win 10 games on the mound in one season, and still holds a number of school records. He was inducted into the National College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2012.
Drafted in the first round of the 1998 MLB Draft, 33rd overall, by the Montreal Expos, Wilkerson made his MLB debut on July 12, 2001. He was named Rookie of the Year in 2002 by The Sporting News after hitting 20 home runs, an Expos rookie record. He hit the last home run in Expos history in 2004, and after the team relocated to Washington, he collected the first hit for the Nationals and also became the first player in a Nats uniform to hit for the cycle. He also played for the Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays before retiring in 2009.
His career with USA Baseball was well established before he coached with them, as he was the MVP of the World Junior Baseball Championship in 1995 and also won a gold medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
After initially starting his coaching career as the head coach of the middle school team at The King's Academy in West Palm Beach, Fla., he was promoted to the varsity head coach in 2015.
