A two-time Atlantic Sun Conference Coach of the Year selection, the 2026 season marks the 20th for Jeff Forehand as the head coach of the Lipscomb University baseball program.
BY THE NUMBERS
15th head coach in Lipscomb Baseball History
700+ collegiate victories
500+ wins at Lipscomb University, most in Division I era
4 NCAA Tournament Appearances (2008, 2015, 2023, 2026)
4 ASUN Tournament Championships (2008, 2015, 2023, 2026)
16 ASUN Tournament Appearances
13 Consecutive ASUN Tournament Appearances (since 2013)
4 ASUN Regular Season Championships (2008, 2022, 2023, 2026)
13 Seasons of 25+ Wins
7 Seasons of 30+ Wins
3 Seasons of 35+ Wins
8 Seasons of 15+ ASUN Wins
2 Seasons of 20+ ASUN Wins
4 ABCA All-Region Selections
1 ABCA All-Region Gold Glove Selections
2 ASUN Coach of the Year honors
3 ASUN Defensive Players of the Year
2 ASUN Pitchers of the Year
1 ASUN Freshman of the Year
53 All-ASUN Selections
11 All-ASUN First Team Honorees
17 Players Drafted by Major League Baseball as Lipscomb Skipper
LIPSCOMB CAREER
Posting a record of 534-557 with the Bisons, he is the fourth on the all-time wins list in Atlantic Sun Conference history, passing Jay Bergman’s 526 wins from Central Florida (1993-2005) late in the 2026 season.
Recording winning records in ASUN play 11 times, his 270 conference wins is good for third in the conference office and is one of seven coaches in the the history of the conference (since 1979) with 200 conference regular season wins.
Over the years, he has coached 53 All-ASUN Selections, with 11 players earning First Team honors.
He’s seen 17 players hear their name called at the Major League Baseball Draft, with three, Caleb Joseph (2008), Rex Brothers (2009) and Josh Smith (2010) being called up to the big leagues.
Casey Bond, who played in the Hollywood feature film Moneyball, and John King got the trend started in Forehand’s first season in 2007 as both were selected by the San Francisco Giants. A right-handed pitcher, King was a 17th-round selection, while Bond got the call in the 25th round. Also, among the Lipscomb standouts who have been drafted under Forehand are right-handed pitcher Ike Buxton, drafted by the Miami Marlins in the 15th round in 2022, catcher Caleb Joseph, who was drafted in the 7th round by the Baltimore Orioles in 2008, and righty hurler Josh Smith, who was chosen by the Cincinnati Reds in the 21st round in 2010.
Highlighting the draftees under Forehand’s direction was the 2017 class. Center fielder Michael Gigliotti was a fourth round pick by the Kansas City Royals, right-handed hurler Brady Puckett was taken in the 15th round by the Miami Marlins and Jeffrey Passantino heard his named called as the last selection of the draft by the defending champion Chicago Cubs in the 40th round.
It marked the first time in program history that the Bisons had multiple players chosen in the first 15 rounds of the draft, with the second coming in 2023 with Logan Van Treeck and Caleb Ketchup.
Prior to his arrival, Lipscomb had not posted a winning season since joining Division I as a full member in 2004.
He has led the Bisons to four Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament Championships and is a two-time Coach of the Year.
YEAR-BY-YEAR WITH THE BISONS
The Bisons 2026 season saw the program win its fourth ASUN Tournament Championship after back-to-back extra-inning wins over North Alabama. With the tourney win, the Bisons earned the Automatic Qualifer to the NCAA Tournament and participated in the Starkville Regional.
Lipscomb’s 2025 season, despite a 25-30 overall record, saw the Bisons play a challenging non-conference schedule that included a home series with Kentucky and West Virginia, a weekend series at Florida State, and trips to Louisville, Vanderbilt and Tennessee. These foes gave Lipscomb a non-conference strength of schedule of 49.
That non-conference schedule was good to the Bisons in ASUN play, going 17-13 to finish second in the Gold Division. However, the conference tournament was not friendly to the Bisons in 2025, as they lost to Florida Gulf Coast and Central Arkansas.
The 2024 season saw the Bisons go 22-34 overall and 15-15 in the ASUN. Playing four SEC teams in Kentucky, Alabama, Vanderbilt and Tennessee, the Bisons picked up a huge midweek win over the No. 3 Volunteers, who eventually became the national champions of Division I baseball, on April 30.
His 2023 ball club won both the regular season and tournament titles and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for just the third time in program history. Posting a 36-26 overall record and a 23-7 record, the 23 conference wins marked the most in Lipscomb ASUN history. The 36 wins overall marked the second-most in program history.
The Bisons had one of the best pitching staffs in program history, as they led the ASUN in team ERA (5.22), strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.43), WHIP (1.35) and walks allowed per nine innings (3.82). Led by Logan Van Treeck’s 108 strikeouts for the 28th-most in Division I that season, he was drafted in the ninth round of the MLB Draft.
On the offensive side, the team had a .376 on-base percentage with 334 walks, good for a top-20 finish in Division I. Along with their discipline at the plate, the team mashed with a program-best 109 home runs, led by Alex Vergara’s 23 and Austin Kelly’s 21.
Forehand hit a major coaching milestone in the second game of the 2022 season as he hit 600 wins in a 12-4 home victory over Akron to kick off the season on a strong note. The Bisons logged a 35-23 record, including a 20-10 record against conference opponents.
His 2022 team logged six series sweeps and saw two of their members to the pros as right-handed pitcher Ike Buxton was drafted by the Miami Marlins in the 15th round of the MLB draft, and Trey Nordmann signed with the Baltimore Orioles in July.
Lipscomb finished the 2022 season with a 35-23 overall record and a 20-10 ASUN record, improving from just 18 wins during the 2021 season. The Bisons won the ASUN West Regular Season Championship, Lipscomb Baseball's first regular season title since 2008.
The shortened 2021 season saw the Bisons post an 11-11 home record, on their way to an 18-29 overall record, with eight of their matchups canceled. The squad interspersed their season with attention-grabbing victories, including a 4-1 triumph over SEC opponent No. 4 Tennessee at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on April 27.
The 2020 season was a unique one for Forehand and his squad. The Bisons got out to a quick start and set a program record by winning the first six games of the season. However, due to unforeseen circumstances brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the season was halted and canceled, with just 16 games played out of the scheduled 53. Lipscomb went 11-5 in those 16 games.
The 2019 team posted the team’s first 30-win season since the three straight seasons from 2014-16. Posting a 14-10 league record, Forehand coached Chris Kachman, who was drafted in the 28th round by the Chicago Cubs.
With a new roster that saw 10 players leave due to graduation and the MLB Draft, Lipscomb took its growing pains in stride in 2018, finishing 24-30. The marquee win came on March 27 at First Tennessee Park where the Bisons took down No. 8 Vanderbilt, 5-1, while holding them to just one hit.
In June of 2018, Forehand had his 12th player selected to the draft when the San Diego Padres called the name of second baseman Lee Solomon.
Forehand entered 2017 with arguably the most talented roster in program history, one that was considered the best in the ASUN. The head coaches around the league voted Lipscomb the ASUN preseason favorite for the first time in program history. The team didn’t quite live up to that billing, as the Bisons had to wait until the last game of the regular season to clinch the No. 6 seed.
After falling to Jacksonville in the first round, the Bisons upended host and No. 2 seed Stetson, 8-6. They then fell to Florida Gulf Coast the next day, ending the season.
In 2016, the Bisons put together a third straight 30-win season after finishing 31-27 overall and 12-9 in the ASUN for a fourth-place finish.
Puckett – as a sophomore – was voted unanimously the ASUN’s Pitcher of the Year and earned a Louisville Slugger Third Team All-American nod. He tossed his way to a 9-2 record and a 2.93 ERA in 15 starts. He led the league in wins, strikeouts (101), innings pitched (107.2) and ASUN Pitcher of the Week awards (4).
Lipscomb hosted the ASUN Tournament and downed Jacksonville 10-8 in the first round, but eventually lost to North Florida and FGCU to end the year.
In 2015, Forehand pioneered the best season in the program’s NCAA era, winning a school record 39 games. It was the first time the Bisons had won at least 30 games in back-to-back seasons in the Division I era.
Closing the season as road warriors with 15-straight wins on the road, the Bisons clinched the No. 2 seed as they traveled to Fort Myers, Florida for the ASUN Championship.
Great pitching and timely hitting powered Lipscomb’s 4-0 record in the championship with back-to-back victories over top-seeded North Florida, who possessed one of the most potent offenses in the country.
In the title game, Forehand made one of the best moves of his career going to freshman Allan Hooker off the bench as a pinch hitter. After going down three runs after three innings, Hooker blasted a go-ahead 3-run bomb in the top of the fourth to give Lipscomb a 5-3 lead and it never looked back en route to a dog pile at the mound when the final out was made.
The Bisons didn’t have to travel far as the committee sent them down the road to the Vanderbilt Regional. Earlier in the season on April 7 in a midweek at Hawkins Field, Lipscomb earned a 3-1 victory over then-No. 1 Vandy behind a 7.1-inning gem from freshman Brady Puckett – it was the fewest runs for the Dores in 29 games.
The NCAA Tournament matchup was a different story however, facing an MLB first rounder in Carson Fulmer. Vandy rode the hard-throwing righty to a 9-1 win in front of more than 3,600 fans in attendance. The very next day, the Bisons’ season came to an end with a 5-2 loss to No. 2 Radford.
In 2014, Lipscomb got off to a slow 2-8 start before heating up in a hurry. The Bisons put together an NCAA-era best 10-game win streak and won 14 of their next 15 games to finish with a 33-28 overall record, tying the then-NCAA-era record for wins in a season.
The team rolled into the ASUN Championship as the No. 4 seed, but after knocking off the top seed and host Florida Gulf Coast twice, Lipscomb advanced to the championship series against Kennesaw State.
Offense was hard to come by against the Owls as the team stranded 12 runners on base in a 7-1 loss. KSU parlayed that win into a Super Regional berth.
Skip’s early years with the Bisons from 2007-13 were lean ones as Lipscomb was still in its infancy in Division I.
After finishing just two games shy of .500 in his first season (28-30) in 2007, the Bisons posted a 33-30 overall mark and won a program-record 19 conference games en route to the team’s first-ever ASUN title and NCAA postseason berth in 2008.
A major underdog, Lipscomb traveled to Athens, Georgia, taking out host Georgia in the opening round of the NCAA Tourney before falling to Georgia Tech in round two. That setup a rematch with the Bulldogs and Georgia prevailed in round two ending the Bisons first NCAA Regional.
Forehand’s 2009 club came within one win of back-to-back trips to the NCAA tournament falling in the A-Sun championship game. That season would see another milestone for Forehand’s program as pitcher Rex Brothers would become the second Lipscomb player drafted in the top round of the Major League Baseball draft. Taken as the 34th overall pick in the draft by the Colorado Rockies, the hard-throwing lefty made a quick rise to the majors making his MLB debut June 6th, 2011 with a 96-mph fastball against the San Diego Padres.
Those results didn’t stop Forehand and his staff from making headlines on the recruiting trail. Forehand’s 2015 signing class was the highest-ranked class in program history, according to Perfect Game’s rankings. Lipscomb finished with the 56th-best class, trailing only Vanderbilt (1st) and Tennessee (42nd) inside the state lines.
SKIP’S TIME WITH THE TROJANS
Prior to taking over the Lipscomb program in 2007, Forehand had a highly successful stint across town at Trevecca Nazarene University, where he led the Trojans to a 211-142-1 record in six seasons. At Trevecca, Forehand earned the 2004 NAIA Region XI Coach of the Year and was twice named TransSouth Conference Coach of the Year in 2004 and 2005.
The Trojans also excelled in the classroom, as the team's grade point average increased by a half a point during his tenure.
While at Trevecca, Forehand saw three players have their names called on draft day as Mario Campos (Red Sox, 2001), B.J. Jenkins (San Diego Padres, 2004) and Brad Coon (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 2005) each were selected.
HIGH SCHOOL COACHING CAREER
Before taking over the Trojans program, Forehand got his head-coaching start at Nashville’s Goodpasture Christian School, where in seven seasons he won three state titles (1995, 1997, 1999). He is also a three-time Tennessee State Coach of the Year honoree, winning the award each of those three years.
Prior to taking over the Goodpasture program, Forehand served as an assistant coach from 1990-92 under his father, Fred, at Montgomery Bell Academy.
PERSONAL
A native of the “Music City”, the former second baseman played college ball at nearby Belmont under coach Dave Whitten, graduating in 1989. Forehand also holds a Master's of Education degree from Tennessee State.
A lifelong resident of Nashville, Forehand and his wife, Karen, have two sons, Gant and Brooks.
