After helping Longwood baseball to its most successful season of the program’s Division I era in 2016 and spending four seasons on staff with mid-major powerhouse Coastal Carolina, Chad Oxendine returned to Longwood as the fourth head coach in program history in June, 2021.
In 2023, Oxendine guided the Lancers to more than 20 wins for a second straight season while piling up a winning record against Commonwealth opponents. The team went 23-31 and 11-16 in Big South play, and the team was 8-5 against in-state opponents. All three win totals surpassed his first season at the helm.
He had a trio of players earn Big South All-Conference Honors in the spring, and the team also had its first ever Big South All-Freshman Team selection. Eliot Dix (First Team), Gregory Ryan, Jr. (Second Team) and Ryan Miller (Honorable Mention) nabbed all-league honors while Ethan Walker (All-Freshman) garnered all-freshman team honors. The team also won nine weekly Big South awards during the season spread among seven different players.
The Lancers posted their best defensive fielding percentage ever (.968) and were one of the most sure-handed groups in the Big South. Meanwhile, Ryan and Dix were a potent group in the heart of Longwood’s order. Ryan’s 63 RBI ranked fourth-most all-time in a single season in program history, and he and Dix were two of the top hitters in the Big South.
Oxendine led Longwood to its first ever season sweep of Richmond, as the Lancers won both ends of a midweek home-and-home series. The win in Richmond was the program’s first, and it was also Walker’s first collegiate win in his first collegiate start on the mound.
The Lancers went 8-5 against in-state opponents, which marked the most since also winning eight games against Commonwealth foes in 2011. It was the best winning percentage since 2016, when the team went 7-4 against in-state opposition.
In addition, the Lancers had their highest ranked win ever with a takedown of then No. 14 and eventual Big South champion Campbell on Saturday, April 15. The 6-3 win, which was credited to Ryan Miller, was the first ranked win since the 2016 season for the Lancers.
In Oxendine’s inaugural season as head coach of the Lancers the team surpassed 20 wins for the first time since 2016. The team finished at 20-33 and 10-14 in conference play, both records were the team’s best winning percentage in more than five years
Under Oxendine the team had their best start to conference play since joining the Big South, winning seven of their first nine contests. The season included their first conference sweep on the road since joining the conference in 2012 when they traveled to North Carolina A&T and won all three in late March.
Offensively the team recorded 293 RBI which was 47 more than the prior season and fifth in the conference. Defensively, the team improved their fielding percentage by 10% and pitchers walked fewer batters.
Oxendine’s staff had five players earn conference player of the week awards and produced two all-conference players and one honorable mention in his first year at the helm
With a 373-317-2 record in his 13 seasons as an assistant coach at the Division I level, Oxendine has helped lead his teams to four conference titles and four NCAA Regionals, including back-to-back Sun Belt championships (2018, 2019) and a Big South championship (2012) with Coastal Carolina and a Colonial Athletic Association title (2006) with UNC Wilmington. Those stops included time at Alabama, Coastal Carolina, Longwood, Richmond, UNC Wilmington, and in professional baseball.
In taking over the Lancers, Oxendine assumed command of a storied baseball program that advanced to the College World Series in 1982 and 1991 and has won more than 1,000 games since its inception in 1978. Among its most notable alumni are 12-year Major League Baseball veteran and first-round draft pick Michael Tucker and All-Americans Dennis Hale, Dwayne Kingery, John Sullivan, Doug Toombs
Oxendine has been a part of three 40-win teams in his career, as well as the winningest team in Longwood baseball’s Division I era, which was the 2016 Lancers’ 32-win campaign. He served as Longwood’s top assistant coach and recruiting coordinator under former head coach Ryan Mau that season, which saw the Lancers go 32-27 overall and 14-10 in Big South play en route to a tie for second place in the final league standings.
During his first tenure in Farmville, Oxendine served as Longwood’s hitting and infield coach as well as recruiting coordinator. He mentored some of the top players in Longwood’s Division I era, including Major League Baseball draft picks Kyri Washington and Michael Osinski, while also recruiting future standouts such as Hunter Gilliam, Jack Schnell and Antwaun Tucker.
Washington, in his first year under Oxendine’s tutelage in 2015, broke out to lead the Big South with 15 home runs, which remains the most by any Longwood baseball player in the past 15 years and tied for third on the program’s all-time list. He went on to get drafted by the Boston Red Sox after that junior season. Meanwhile, Osinski played all three of his collegiate seasons under Oxendine and hit .298 with 38 doubles, seven home runs and 105 RBI before being drafted, also by the Boston Red Sox as a junior.
Washington and Osinski were two of a combined 43 MLB draft picks and 52 professional players Oxendine has coached during his career, which began in 2006 after the conclusion of his own professional playing career in 2005. Among those future pros he mentored were first-round pitcher Tommy Hunter and fifth-round catcher Alex Avila at Alabama, and fifth-round catcher Chris Hatcher at UNC Wilmington – all of whom reached the Major Leagues.
Oxendine also brought professional-caliber talent to other stops along the way, including three of his recruits at Richmond – left-handed pitcher Chris Bates, catcher Chris Cowell and shortstop Adam McConnell – who were drafted as well.
Along with the recruiting and player development success Oxendine has enjoyed throughout his coaching career, he has earned experience in nearly every aspect of the college game. Most recently at Coastal Carolina, he was promoted from director of operations – a position he held for three years – to Director of Player Development, Baseball Operations and Analytics prior to the 2021 season. In that role, he oversaw the day-to-day operations of the Chanticleer program, video analytics, academics, fundraising, alumni relations, recruiting, and player development.
During his past four years at Coastal Carolina, Oxendine contributed to Sun Belt tournament championships in 2018 and 2019, both of which sent the Chanticleers to NCAA Regionals. In 2018, his first year at Coastal Carolina after departing Longwood, the Chanticleers went 43-19 overall and 23-7 in the Sun Belt – their first year in the conference. Coastal Carolina followed with a 36-26 record and another Sun Belt title in 2019 and has amassed a 117-74 overall record and a 47-32 in conference play over the past four years with him on staff.
Oxendine’s four-year stay at Coastal Carolina was his second stint at his alma mater, following a single season as volunteer assistant coach for the 2012 Big South champion Chanticleers. Coastal Carolina went 42-19 overall and 18-5 in the Big South that year and saw head coach Gary Gilmore earn Big South Coach of the Year honors.
Before bookending his time at Longwood with those separate tenures at Coastal Carolina, Oxendine spent the 2011 season as the hitting coach for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, a High-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers and three years as an assistant coach at Richmond from 2008-10. That stint at Richmond was his first full-time coaching job following a pair of volunteer assistant coach roles at Alabama in 2007 and UNC Wilmington in 2006.
A decorated catcher at Coastal Carolina from 2001-04, Oxendine helped the Chanticleers capture four consecutive Big South titles and advance to an NCAA Regional every year. An All-Big South second team and All-Big South Tournament selection as a senior, Oxendine was a career .281 hitter while playing in 198 games. He was a member of Coastal Carolina’s winningest class in school history, amassing a 171-80 record during his tenure. Following his collegiate career, he played professionally with the Chicago White Sox short-season affiliate in the Appalachian League.
A native of Rowland, N.C., Oxendine graduated from Coastal Carolina in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education.
