Baseball Adds Three Assistants to 2024 Coaching Staff

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Missouri baseball head coach Kerrick Jackson made the first three additions to his coaching staff official Thursday, announcing the hirings of Jabari Brown, former Mizzou head coach Tim Jamieson and former Tiger outfielder Bryson LeBlanc as assistant coaches for the 2024 season.

Jackson didn’t have to look far for his first hire, selecting Jamieson, who brings 28 years of coaching experience on the Missouri campus into his new role as the Tigers pitching coach. In 22 seasons as Mizzou’s head baseball coach, Jamieson led the Tigers to 698 wins, trailing only Gene McArtor (733) on the Tigers’ all-time coaching victories chart. He coached eight All-Americans at Mizzou and saw 75 of his players drafted, including 19 Major Leaguers.

“We couldn’t be more excited to have Coach J join us,” Jackson said. “His experience, his knowledge base and his track record of developing not only pitchers, but players, in general, and coaches as well…you couldn’t ask for a better fit. I’m glad he’s going to be on this journey with us to get this program back to the top.”

Jamieson returns to Columbia after serving as pitching coach under Jackson in his lone season at Memphis, where the duo helped lead the Tigers to their first winning season since 2017. Prior to his stop at UM, Jamieson spent three seasons (2020-22) as pitching coach at Southern Illinois, helping the Salukis compile a 96-42 record that included a pair of 40-win seasons. During that span, Jamieson’s pitching staff led the Missouri Valley Conference in earned run average in 2022, after posting the second-best team ERA in the circuit in 2021.

Jamieson garnered 1996 Big 8 Coach of the Year and 2007 Big 12 Co-Coach of the Year honors, as his Missouri teams won 35 games or more nine times during his head coaching career. He led Mizzou to seven consecutive NCAA postseason appearances from 2003 to 2009, including the program’s first Super Regional berth in 2006. He was also selected to lead USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team as head coach in 2011.

Jamieson received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration from New Orleans. A graduate of Columbia Rock Bridge High School, he is married to a Mizzou graduate, the former Cindy Thornton. They are the parents of two sons, Mickey and Ty. 

Jackson also adds former Tiger student-athlete in LeBlanc, who played on two NCAA Regional-qualifying squads for Jamieson (2005-06) before embarking on his coaching career. LeBlanc returns to Columbia after serving as an assistant coach at UC San Diego (2019-23) for the last five seasons, working primarily with the Triton hitters and coaching third base.

“Bryson is the definition of a grinder,” Jackson stated. “He has a great eye for talent and is relentless on the recruiting trail. He knows exactly what we need to get this program to Omaha. Our hitters will benefit tremendously from his knowledge, as well as his tenacity.”

LeBlanc helped guide UC San Diego through its transition to the NCAA Division I level, including a 34-18 campaign this spring that culminated in the program’s first Big West Conference title. That success came on the heels of two of the most successful seasons in program history to begin his tenure. In 2019, the Tritons captured a conference title and advanced to the Division II College World Series, before ascending to the top of the national polls to begin the abbreviated 2020 campaign.

Prior to his time in San Diego, LeBlanc coached for seven seasons at UC Riverside (2012-18), where he mentored 31 all-conference performers and 18 players who were selected in the MLB First-Year Player Draft. The New Orleans native also spent four seasons in administrative and coaching roles at Oregon (2008-11), where he helped the Ducks return to prominence with a 2010 NCAA Regional berth in just their second season after the reinstatement of the program.

In all, 46 of LeBlanc’s former players have been selected in the MLB Draft, including 14 who have been taken in the top 10 rounds. Six of those have advanced to the big leagues.

As a player LeBlanc was a part of MU’s 2005 club that won 40 games, as well as the Tigers’ 2006 team that captured the Malibu Regional to secure the first Super Regional berth in program history. He is a 2006 Mizzou graduate in biological sciences. He and his wife, Andria, are the parents of two boys, Christian and Camden.

No stranger to the Southeastern Conference, Brown will join the Tigers after working with one of the league’s—and the nation’s—top programs for the past two years. Brown was named the first recipient of Vanderbilt’s Maggie Corbin Minority Baseball Apprenticeship and spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons gaining knowledge in skill and leadership development, practice organization, video analysis, scouting, analytics and program building.

“We are very fortunate to have Jabari as a member of our staff, as he is a rising start in our industry,” Jackson said. “His entire career has been spent around outstanding baseball minds, as well as amazing mentors. His attention to detail, quiet confidence and development-based mindset will be truly beneficial to everyone in the Tiger family.”

As a member of the Commodores’ staff (2022-23), Brown was a part of Vanderbilt’s 2023 SEC Tournament championship club that garnered the No. 6 national seed in this year’s NCAA Division I Baseball Championship. In two seasons, he helped VU rack up 81 victories, including a 39-win season and another NCAA Regional berth in 2021.

Before his time at Vandy, Brown began his coaching career at his alma mater, Claflin University (2018-20), where he served as assistant coach for three seasons. During Brown’s tenure, the Panthers engineered an eight-win improvement in 2019, hitting .300 as a team and averaging nearly eight runs per contest.

Brown played collegiately for four seasons at Claflin, where helped the Panthers capture the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title and a berth in the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship in 2016.

A Chicago native, Brown earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Claflin in 2016.

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