The University of Mississippi Athletics
Bianco Announces Additions, Changes To Rebel Baseball Coaching Staff
6/29/2006 | Baseball
June 29, 2006
OXFORD, Miss. - Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco announced several changes to the Rebel baseball coaching staff on Thursday, including the hiring of Rob Reinstetle and Kyle Bunn as assistant coaches, and the movement of administrative assistant Carl Lafferty to a volunteer coaching position.
The appointments of Reinstetle and Bunn to the coaching staff as full-time assistants are pending the approval of the Board of Trustees, State Institutions of Higher Learning.
Reinstetle will serve as the recruiting coordinator, infield and hitting coach for the Rebels, filling the position held previously by Dan McDonnell, who accepted the head coaching position at Louisville earlier in the week.
"I am very excited to announce the addition of Rob as part of our staff," said Bianco. "He has accomplished so much success as a recruiting coordinator and coach at the age of 30. He will be a great addition to our program."
Over the past three seasons Reinstetle has been a part of three NCAA Tournament Appearances and has coached 12 All-America selections, 22 All-Conference selections and 11 players who were drafted by Major League Baseball with two different programs - South Alabama and the College of Charleston.
Reinstetle, who has served as the hitting coach for both programs, has seen his teams finish in the top 10 nationally in batting average each of the past three seasons, including finishing first nationally in 2005 (.355) and second in 2004 (.341).
Most recently, Reinstetle served as recruiting coordinator for South Alabama during the 2006 season. He helped lead the Jaguars to a post-season appearance at the NCAA Oxford Regional and his team finished in the top 10 nationally in batting (.326). His responsibilities with the Jaguars included coaching the infielders and hitters, in addition to his duties as recruiting coordinator.
Prior to joining the staff at South Alabama, Reinstetle was an assistant with the College of Charleston, serving as the hitting coach and assistant recruiting coordinator. With the Cougars, Reinstetle helped lead the team to back-to-back postseason appearances as they went 48-15 in 2005 and 47-16 in 2004, claiming back-to-back Southern Conference Championships. The 2005 season saw the Cougar offense break 10 school records and six Southern Conference records.
Bunn will fill the position left by former Rebel assistant Stuart Lake who resigned to pursue other coaching opportunities.
Lake served as the hitting coach for the Rebels for the past three seasons.
"Stuart did a great job with our offense over the past three seasons and made quite an impact on this program," said Bianco. "We certainly wish him well as he moves on to pursue other endeavors.
"It's a great opportunity, though, because we are able to move Kyle Bunn up to a position that he very much deserves," Bianco said. "His loyalty and the hard work he has done for this program is clear when you look at what he has accomplished with our pitching staff over the past five seasons."
A 1999 graduate of the Citadel, Bunn has served as pitching coach on a volunteer basis for five seasons and has played a key role in the Rebels hosting three-straight NCAA Regional and back-to-back Super Regionals. He also aided in developing a young pitching staff that helped propel the Rebels to the 2006 Southeastern Conference Tournament Championship.
Over the course of the past five seasons, Bunn has coached 13 Major League draft picks, four All-SEC performers, three All-America selections, and the 2003 SEC Freshman of the Year and three-time All-America in Stephen Head.
With the selection of Cody Satterwhite to the Freshman All-America team by Collegiate Baseball this season, Bunn has also coached a pair of Freshman All-America selections on the mound in Head and Satterwhite. Satterwhite set the single-season record for wins by a freshman (11) during the 2006 season, tying for first in the Southeastern Conference in wins. Satterwhite also tied the single-season win mark for a pitcher in Rebel history, tying with former All-American Jamey Price (1995) and Rich Zibilich (1977).
Under Bunn's guidance, the Rebels pitching staffs have broken school records and set high marks on a yearly basis. The 2005 staff set the single-season record for strikeouts (562) as three pitchers notched more than 100 strikeouts each. The mark shattered the record of 463 set a year earlier under his watch. The 2004 staff posted six shutouts on the year, one shy of the school record seven shutouts in 1964.
Rounding out the staff changes is the movement of administrative assistant Carl Lafferty to the volunteer coaching position previously held by Bunn. Lafferty, who played for the Rebels from 1998-2001, played three years professionally after being drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals before returning to Ole Miss in 2004 to complete his degree. Lafferty returned to the baseball program when he joined the Rebels as the administrative assistant for the 2005 season.
"We are excited that Carl will be taking the position of volunteer coach," Bianco said. "It's always exciting to get an alum and former player back in uniform as part of your coaching staff."
