Ford Pemberton joins SLU baseball staff

HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana University Head Baseball Coach Matt Riser announced the addition of Ford Pemberton to the coaching staff Wednesday. He will serve as the Lions’ hitting coach and camp coordinator.

No stranger to the ranks of the Southland Conference, Pemberton was previously a member of the Nicholls staff for five seasons under head coach Seth Thibodeaux. A member of the American Baseball Coaches Association, he served as a speaker at the Bayou/River Coaches Clinic in 2017 and at the LHSAA Coaches Clinic in 2019.

“Everybody I talked to about Coach Pemberton, and in my relationship with him, he just works harder than everyone else around him – with a first one in and the last one to leave mentality,” Riser said. “He’s extremely loyal. If he doesn’t know something, he’s going to figure it out. He’s going to work to the bitter end to make sure our guys have the best experience possible and a chance to develop.”

Pemberton initially joined the Nicholls staff in July 2016, serving as Director of Baseball Operations and Camp Coordinator before moving on to the coaching staff a year later. A second promotion followed in August 2019 with Pemberton taking over as the Colonels’ hitting coach along with a focus on base-running, the squad’s catchers and serving as the program’s academic liaison.

A native of Bossier City, Louisiana, Pemberton also played a major role in Nicholls’ recruiting efforts, practice organization and scheduling.

Prior to Nicholls, Pemberton served as an assistant at C.E. Byrd High School in Shreveport from 2014 to 2016. While at Byrd, he served as an associate scout for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Prior to his time at Byrd, Pemberton spent time as an assistant coach at Zachary High School and Parkview Baptist High School. He helped lead all three schools to the LHSAA State Championship.

Pemberton attended Haughton High School and graduated from Louisiana State University in 2013 with a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology and from Arkansas State in 2019 with a Master of Science in Sport Administration.

“We’ve done a good job of developing the program to the point that this is an attractive job,” Riser said. “Trying to fill this spot on the staff, we had a lot of interest. After collecting names and doing some research, we were able to narrow down the search to a handful of finalists that would help us fill the void we had after losing Coach [Tim] Donnelly. I think we hit a home run.”

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