Roane State names Hamsley head baseball coach

HARRIMAN, Tenn. – Roane State Athletics Director Randy Nesbit has named Cam Hamsley as the new head baseball coach for the 2020 season. Hamsley, a long-time Raiders assistant coach, has been leading the program as interim head coach since January.

“Coach Hamsley is full of enthusiasm as he takes on the task of continuing our program’s attempt to advance up in the TCCAA,” Nesbit said.

Coach Hamsley said he is “grateful, humbled and thankful” for the confidence the administration has shown in him, first by naming him interim head coach and now as head coach of the storied program.

According to Nesbit, “he has always been described by coaches he has worked under as a ‘student of the game.’ He has excellent organizational skills, is a very persevering worker, and will take those attributes both onto the field and into the classroom as an instructor in our humanities department.”

At the end of his high school playing days at Pope John Paul II High School in Hendersonville, Tennessee, Hamsley had to undergo surgery on his throwing arm, which ended his playing career but – as he puts it – “started my coaching career.”

After earning an undergraduate degree at Austin Peay State University, Hamsley obtained a master’s degree from Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. While still attending Union, Hamsley worked as an assistant coach at Springfield High School before moving to his alma mater, Pope John Paul II High School, where he helped lead the program to four consecutive state tournament appearances.

After being advised to give collegiate coaching a try, Hamsley landed a job as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Roane State. He held that position for three seasons before being named interim head coach and, now, the new head coach, succeeding long-time head coach Zach Sterner. The current Raiders roster consists entirely of players Hamsley has brought to the program.

Prior to the Raiders’ spring season being shut down due to COVID-19, the team had an 8-14 overall record under Hamsley, and a 2-4 conference mark. Hamsley is only the college’s sixth head coach in the institution’s 50-year history.

A native of Springfield, Tennessee, Hamsley and his wife, Rose, are the proud puppy parents of a golden doodle named “Roaney.”