Dave Tollett, Florida Gulf Coast Eagles

College Baseball Now

Dave Tollett is a four-time Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year who is in his 15th season as head coach of the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles. He was named the program’s first-ever head coach in August of 2001 and has guided the Eagles to the Atlantic Sun championship on four occasions. Tollett guided the Eagles through the transition into the Division I ranks by winning three straight ASUN regular season titles from 2008 to 2010 and posting 112 wins in their first three years. En route to the conference championships, FGCU went 73-20 in the ASUN – the most conference wins by any team in the country over that span.

Tollett’s blue collar coaching style has helped build FGCU into one of the rising programs in the country. The Eagles have accumulated a record of 490-296-3 with at least 25 wins in all 14 seasons. The Eagles entered this season having won 58 of the 82 ASUN three-game series since joining the league in 2008, including all 10 in 2010. This year Florida Gulf Coast won eight of its first 10 games.

Player development has also been a prominent part of the program’s short history, as 34 players and signees have gone on to be selected in the MLB Draft or signed as a free agent. In the summer of 2010, Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Year Chris Sale and Casey Coleman became the first Eagles in the Major Leagues, separated by just two days. Sale’s accent into the majors began when he was selected by the Chicago White Sox with the 13th overall pick in the 2010 MLB Draft. Coleman, a 15th-round selection by the Cubs in 2008, became the first FGCU player in MLB on August 2, when he was called up from Triple-A Iowa. Since then, former pitchers Richard Bleier and Jacob Barnes have also made their MLB debuts for the New York Yankees and Milwaukee Brewers, respectively, less than a week apart during the 2016 season.

In 2016, the Eagles turned in a 27-32 (9-11) record before getting hot in the postseason and making the program’s first appearance in the ASUN Championship Game despite dropping their opener against No. 2 UNF. Without two-time All-American Jake Noll in the lineup, No. 5 FGCU rattled off wins against No. 1 Kennesaw State, No. 4 Lipscomb and UNF before ultimately dropping the championship game in dramatic fashion to No. 6 Stetson. During the regular season, FGCU notched a win at No. 4 FSU for the second straight season as Noll and fellow ASUN First-Teamer Tyler Selesky combined for a trio of home runs to lead the Eagles to an 11-8 extra-inning victory. FGCU also earned a trio of walk-off wins against No. 16 FAU and in a pair of victories against conference newcomer NJIT.

A 1988 graduate of Tusculum College, Tollett made his mark as one of the top high school coaches in the state of Florida. During his 10-year stint as head coach at Charlotte High in Punta Gorda, he posted a 175-96 record to become the winningest coach in school history. In six of his last seven seasons with the Tarpons, his peers selected him as the FHSAA District 16 Coach of the Year. His teams won one district championship and made five appearances in the Florida High School Athletic Association state playoffs in a district that included perennial state powers Sarasota and Venice. In addition to developing numerous players drafted by professional teams, Tollett’s teams have averaged over a 3.50 grade point average in the classroom over his last five seasons.

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