Mewbourne Retires After 24 Vanderbilt Years

Vanderbilt baseball coach Roy Mewbourne, who won over 900 games in a 30-year collegiate coaching career, announced his retirement immediately following today's season ending game at Tennessee.

Mewbourne, regarded as one of the dean's of SEC baseball, was instrumental in the realization of the Commodores' new baseball home, the $5.8 million Hawkins Field.

He had a 655-608-9 record in 24 years at Vanderbilt, easily the winningest baseball coach in school history. He compiled a 922-682-9 overall record over 30 years. The Commodores were 24-27 this season.

"It is time to turn the program over to someone else," Mewbourne said. "I feel that I have taken the program as far as I can. I am proud of what has been accomplished. Certainly I wish we would have won some more games but all of us can point with pride to our new stadium and be enthused about the future."

"Roy Mewbourne ran our baseball program with class and dignity," Director of Athletics Todd Turner says. "He played a major role in our fund-raising efforts for Hawkins Field. He has always been a great colleague and he loves Vanderbilt very much. We all owe him a sincere thank you for his dedicated service and loyalty to the University."

Turner said the Department of Athletics would be honoring Mewbourne in some way in the near future.

Mewbourne, a native of Birmingham, came to Nashville in 1979 from Birmingham Southern, where he had compiled a six-year mark of 267 wins against just 74 losses. While at Vanderbilt, he became the third winningest active coach in the SEC by the time he retired.

Mewbourne took pride in the academic accomplishments of his players. Going into this season, 95 Commodores earned academic all-SEC honors including 13 a year ago.

One of his most prized pupils was first team All-American Hunter Bledsoe, the 1999 SEC Player of the Year and baseball's national academic Player of the Year.

Mewbourne, a 1967 graduate of Florida State, is a member of the Birmingham Southern Hall of Fame. He and his wife, Dee, have two adult children.