Casey Dunn was named Samford’s head baseball coach in August 2004. He recently wrapped up his 16th season at the helm of the program.
Under his leadership, the Bulldogs have posted 30-plus wins in 12 of the last 14 full seasons. The team has also played in the Southern Conference Tournament title game in five of the last eight years, including earning the tournament championship in 2018 and 2012. He is the program's all-time winningest coach with a 498-398 career record.
Dunn's 2019 season earned the program's first SoCon regular-season title. The Bulldogs tied a program record with 41 wins (41-19) and posted a record of 19-5 in SoCon play. In 2020, Dunn's team got off to a 13-2 start before the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2018, the team swept through the SoCon Tournament, capping the run with a dominating 14-4 win over Mercer in the tournament title game. The team then upset seventh-ranked Florida State in the first round of the NCAA Tallahassee Regional.
In 2012, Dunn coached the Bulldogs to their first SoCon championship and NCAA Tournament bid. The team also set a school record for wins with 41.
Also in 2012, Dunn’s squad produced a school-record seven Major League Baseball Draft picks, and finished with nine players signing with MLB teams. Last year, Samford boasted three players selected in the 2017 Major League Baseball Draft as the Bulldogs’ school-record number of drafted players continued to grow under the tutelage of Dunn.
Samford’s Jared Brasher was drafted in the eighth round by the Washington Nationals, while Kevin Williams, Jr., was taken in the 13th round by the Los Angeles Angels and T.J. Dixon was selected by the Minnesota Twins with the first pick in the 24th round.
The Bulldogs’ baseball program boasts seven top-10 round picks since 2012 and a total of 22 players drafted in the last seven years. Since Dunn took the reins in 2005, the Bulldogs have had a total of 28 players selected in the MLB Draft. Prior to Dunn’s arrival, Samford only had a total of three players drafted in school history.
With this season’s MLB Draft success, the Bulldogs have now had at least three players taken in a single season four times in school history, all of which have occurred under the direction of Dunn and his staff.
Samford’s 2016 group featured three players drafted as Heath Quinn (third round, San Francisco Giants), Alex Lee (22nd round, Atlanta Braves) and Hunter Swilling (29th round, Detroit Tigers) were all selected in the Major League Draft after the Bulldogs made another deep run in the SoCon Tournament. Additionally, All-SoCon pitcher Parker Curry signed a free-agent deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
In 2015, Samford reached the finals of the SoCon Tournament for the fourth time in the last five years, narrowly falling to Mercer, 2-0.
Prior to the start of the 2013 season, Dunn was named one of the top rising head coaches by Perfect Game, and he was ranked second on Baseball America’s list of top college baseball head coaches under 40.
At the conclusion of the 2013 season, Dunn’s team produced the first player in school history to be drafted in the first round of the Major League Baseball Draft when center fielder Phillip Ervin was selected by the Cincinnati Reds. Also, pitcher and designated hitter C.K. Irby was taken in the 10th round of the MLB Draft by the Minnesota Twins.
In 2011, the Bulldogs finished third in the prestigious SoCon and reached the finals of the SoCon Tournament, finishing one win short of the first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history. The team won a then school-record 37 games in 2011.
Dunn’s 2011 team featured four players selected in the 2011 Major League Baseball Draft. Pitchers Grant Sides, Andrew Jones and Josh Martin, along with second baseman Michael Johnson were all taken in the MLB Draft.
Additionally, five Bulldogs were named to the Coaches’ All-SoCon team in 2011 and the pitching staff set school records for lowest ERA, fewest runs allowed, fewest earned runs allowed and most strikeouts, while tying the school record for most saves.
Dunn proved to be the youngest DI head coach in the country when he was hired in 2004.
In just his second season as head coach, Dunn took the baseball team from not qualifying for the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament to being the league’s regular-season champion and the top seed in the league’s postseason tournament. The team won a then school-record 34 games and Dunn was named the OVC’s Coach of the Year.
Dunn followed up the success of 2006 with a second straight winning season in 2007; marking the first time Samford posted back-to-back winning seasons in more than 40 years.
In 2008, the team finished second in the OVC in the regular season. Samford posted 33 wins, a total which ranked behind only Dunn’s 2011 and 2006 squads for wins in a single season.
Under Dunn’s leadership, the 2008 team also produced Samford’s highest draft pick when Michael Marseco was drafted in the 11th round of the Major League Baseball draft.
After his first season, Dunn and his staff signed the largest recruiting class in Samford baseball history: 20 players, including nine transfers. The class was ranked 69th in the nation by Collegiate Baseball. Additionally, Samford was ranked 29th among teams in the Southeast, third in Alabama and first in the OVC.
Dunn and his staff have continued to recruit successfully. Many of its signing classes have been ranked nationally.
Dunn, who was an assistant coach at Auburn University from mid-July 2004 until he was hired at Samford, started the baseball program at Spain Park High School in Birmingham, Ala. In three years at Spain Park, he posted a record of 53-41. His teams won two Jefferson County titles and a co-region championship, as well as two state playoff appearances.
In 2002, Dunn was named the Over the Mountain Coach of the Year and was named Coach of the Year by The Birmingham News in 2003.
Dunn played four seasons as a catcher at Auburn (1996-99). As a senior, he earned All-America honors after batting .379 with a Southeastern Conference-leading 86 RBI. He helped lead the Tigers to a 1999 NCAA Regional Championship, the 1998 SEC Tournament title and a 1997 College World Series appearance.
Dunn finished his Auburn career ranked in the top five in several of the Tigers’ career records including hits (third, 307), RBI (third, 232), total bases (third, 470), at-bats (third, 905), games played (fifth, 231) and extra-base hits (fifth, 95).
At the end of his senior season at Auburn, Dunn was presented with the Cliff Hare Award for the school’s top male athlete.
At the conclusion of his collegiate playing career, Dunn played two seasons in the Kansas City Royals organization. He played with minor league teams in Wilmington, N.C., and Spokane, Wash.
Dunn played for his father and legendary high school coach, Sammy Dunn, at Vestavia High School throughout his prep career. His team won state titles in 1994, 1995 and 1996. VHS finished 26-6, 32-4 and 31-6 in his last three years of high school and the Rebels compiled a perfect 21-0 record in playoff games.
In the 1995 quarterfinals, Dunn led Vestavia High School back from a 7-2 deficit to win 11-7 over Decatur in 10 innings, in a thrilling game that set the stage for the Alabama state title.
Dunn graduated from Auburn in 1999 with a degree in social science secondary education. He is married to the former Marty Goldthorp and the couple has a son, Sam, 16, and a daughter, Linlee, 14.
Getting the job DUNN
--- Samford's accomplishments under Head Coach Casey Dunn ---
Coaching Highlights
- Samford has posted 30-plus wins in 12 of the last 14 full seasons
- 28 players selected in the Major League Baseball Draft
- Seven players taken in the top 10 rounds of the MLB Draft
- Most wins, and best winning percentage by any Division I team in the state of Alabama
- Led the nation in home runs in 2015 (finished second in 2012 and third in 2016)
- Top nine seasons in wins in school history
- Coached the 10 highest draft picks in school history
- Nation’s leading home run hitter in 2012 (Brandon Miller)
- Samford is averaging 35 victories per year since 2011
- Bulldogs have played in the SoCon Tournament title game in five of the last eight years
- Coached Samford to its first SoCon championship and NCAA Tournament in 2012
- Set the Bulldogs’ school record with 41 wins in 2012
- Won the school's second SoCon Tournament title and NCAA Tournament bid in 2018
- Led the SoCon in batting average (.304), runs (435), total bases (1023) and home runs (85) in 2015
- Has coached 45 All-SoCon players since 2010
- Leading hitter has posted at least a .333 batting average in every season since 2005
- Samford’s Michael Marseco turned in a .419 batting average in 2008
- Team has hit at least 53 home runs in all but one season since 2012, including a nation-leading 85 in 2015
- Samford’s Heath Quinn led the SoCon in both home runs (21) and RBI (77) in 2016
- The Bulldogs have turned in a team batting average of at least .279 in all but one season since 2008
- Since 2011, Samford has finished ranked No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 6 and No. 14 in the nation in home runs
- Bulldogs ranked in the nation’s top 25 in slugging percentage in all but one season since 2012
- Samford's Samuel Strickland named SoCon Freshman of the Year in 2018.
- Samford’s Austin Edens named SoCon Freshman of the Year in 2015
- Samford’s Heath Quinn named SoCon Freshman of the Year in 2014
- Named one of the top rising head coaches by Perfect Game
- Ranked second on Baseball America’s list of top college head coaches under 40
- Produced the first player in school history to be drafted in the first round (Phillip Ervin)
- Youngest Division I head coach in the nation when he was hired in 2004
Playing Highlights
- Earned All-America honors in 1999 after batting .379 with an SEC-leading 86 RBI
- Led Auburn to a 1999 Regional Championship, 1998 SEC Tournament title and 1997 College World Series
- Finished his Auburn career ranked third in school history in hits (307), RBI (232) and total bases (470)
- Awarded the prestigious Cliff Hare Award in 1999, which is earned annually by Auburn’s top male athlete
- Played two seasons in the Kansas City Royals organization
