Head Coach for Berry College Baseball, David Beasley
David Beasley has been at the helm of the Berry baseball program since the 1998 season and enters the 23rd season with a 661-438-2 overall record, the winningest coach in school history.
In August of 2012, he was promoted to Assistant Athletic Director in addition to his head coaching duties. In his administrative role, Beasley is responsible for overseeing athletic department fundraising, the booster club and the hall of fame.
During Berry’s NCAA Division III era (including through the transitionary period), Beasley has led the Vikings to a 231-165 record including a 80-48 record in the Southern Athletic Association. He earned his 600th career victory during the historic 2018 season after earning his 500th milestone win in 2014. In 2010, the first year as an NCAA Division III provisional member, Beasley’s Vikings finished with a 23-17 overall mark. That season came on the heels of what may have been the best season in school history, which culminated with an appearance in the NAIA World Series. In 2018, he led the Vikings to the program’s first SAA Regular Season Championship, and was also named SAA Coach of the Year for the first time in his career.
In Berry’s NAIA years, Beasely led the 2009 Vikings to a regular season champions of the Southern States Athletic Conference with a record of 46-16 with a 22-5 conference mark. The team made the school’s first-ever appearance at the NAIA World Series, placing fifth in the national tournament and earning a No. 4 ranking in the final NAIA National Poll, the highest ranking in school history.It was the most successful season that the coach has known, as the group tied the school record for wins in a season with 46 victories. He has also won a TranSouthTournament title, an SSAC Tournament Title and the first regular-season SSAC title in school history. In 2018 the Vikings finished the year 29-13 with a SAA record of 15-4 and won the SAA Conference Championship.
In addition to the work on the field, Beasley also emphasizes classroom excellence. His teams have produced 13 All-Americans and had eight Academic All-Americans. Beasley has also had 14 players move on to play professional baseball. One of the most notable is pitcher Collin McHugh now of the Houston Astros. Stephen Gaylor (14C) is the most recent Viking in the pros. He is in the Atlanta Braves farm system.
Under Beasley’s leadership, Berry has continued to improve its facilities to become one of the best in the Southern Athletic Association. The latest edition is a 6,000 square-foot indoor hitting and pitching facility.
A native of Troy, Ala., Beasley played two years of baseball at George C. Wallace Junior College in Selma, Ala., earning All-America honors as a standout third baseman. He then transferred to Huntingdon College where he played under former Berry coach Steve Shartzer. Beasley graduated from Huntingdon with a bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1987 and earned his master’s degree in physical education from Alabama State University in Montgomery. He served as an assistant under Shartzer before taking over as Berry’s head coach in the spring of 1998.
Beasley is married to the former Cindy King of Panama City, Fla. They have three children, Heath, Alexis and Dylan, and the family resides in Rome, Ga.