Former Alabama head coach and Port Arthur native Mitch Gaspard has been hired as assistant baseball coach at Louisiana Tech.

Gaspard was most recently a volunteer assistant coach at Georgia after two seasons as the associated head coach at Kansas State. At Louisiana Tech, he will serve as the team’s hitting coach and recruiting coordinator.

“There are a handful of coaches in our business that I would hand my son off to for four years, and Mitch Gaspard is one of those men,” LaTech head coach Lane Burroughs said in a release. “As a young coach, I watched and admired what he was doing on and off the field and I made a serious effort to emulate that in my career. This is a big get and a big day for our program.”

Gaspard played on the 1983 Thomas Jefferson High School baseball team that won the 5A state championship. It was the only UIL title in Mid- or South County until Port Neches-Groves’ 2017 5A crown.

As a head coach, Gaspard went 444-331 in 15 seasons at Northwestern State (2002-07) and Alabama (2010-16). He led the 2010 Crimson Tide to a Super Regional.

“I’m looking forward to joining Lane and the coaching staff on their continued growth and vision for the baseball program,” Gaspard said. “My philosophy has always been about building relationships with student-athletes and helping them achieve their goals as baseball players and as men.”