BATON ROUGE, La. – Alan Dunn, the minor league pitching coordinator for the Baltimore Orioles, has been hired as pitching coach for the LSU baseball program, coach Paul Mainieri announced Friday.
Dunn, who has 22 years of experience as a pitching coach on the professional level, has coached over 25 pitchers that have advanced to Major League Baseball.
“My goal at the outset of the search process was to find the best pitching coach in the country, and we’ve accomplished that objective with the hiring of Alan Dunn,” Mainieri said. “He will make a tremendous impact upon our program with his great wealth of knowledge and experience. He’s coached so many pitchers that have reached the big leagues, and he knows how to motivate players to realize their full potential. He has established a consistent and highly successful system for developing pitchers to the highest level.”
Dunn spent the past three full seasons and the end of 2007 as Baltimore’s major league bullpen coach before becoming the Orioles’ minor league pitching coordinator prior to the 2011 season.
Dunn was in his 15th season in the Chicago Cubs organization and his first as minor league pitching coordinator when he was hired in August, 2007 by Orioles manager Dave Trembley. Dunn served as pitching coach at every level from Class A to AAA in his 15 years with the Cubs.
“Alan Dunn is a tremendous addition to the LSU baseball program,” said Randy Bush, the Cubs’ assistant general manager and a two-time World Series champion as a player with the Minnesota Twins. “He is very experienced and knowledgeable in all aspects of pitching. He is first and foremost a teacher at heart and loves the daily interaction with his pitching staff.
“Alan is hard-working, straightforward in his approach and has an uncanny ability to help young men reach their full potential. He is extremely well prepared for this opportunity. I cannot imagine a better fit for Coach Mainieri and the program and I know the LSU faithful will be thrilled with what Alan brings to the table.”
Dunn joined the Cubs in 1992 as a scout before becoming the pitching coach in 1993 for the team’s Class A affiliate in Geneva N.Y. He then moved on to other Class A clubs at Peoria, Ill. (1994), Rockford, Ill. (1995-96) and Daytona, Fla. (1997). Dunn served as pitching coach for the AA West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx from 1998 through 2005, where his pitching staffs finished first or second in the Southern League in ERA three times.
Dunn helped lead the Diamond Jaxx to the 2000 Southern League championship, and he coached the only three staffs in Southern League history to record 1,100 strikeouts in a single season. He also coached three individual Southern League ERA champions in 1991, 2000 and 2001.
He was the pitching coach at AAA Iowa in 2006 before becoming the Cubs’ minor league pitching coordinator in 2007.
Dunn pitched professionally for two years in the Detroit Tigers farm system. He was the Tigers’ fourth-round selection (95th player overall) in the 1983 MLB Draft out of the University of Alabama, where he played for the Crimson Tide’s ’83 College World Series runners-up team.
He worked as an assistant coach at Vanderbilt in 1991 and 1992 prior to beginning his coaching career at the pro level.
Dunn earned a bachelor’s of science degree in physical education from UAB in 1991. He and his wife, Jay, have two children – a son, Davis, and a daughter, Bailey.
ALAN DUNN COACHING CAREER
2011 Baltimore Orioles Minor League Pitching Coordinator
2007-2010 Baltimore Orioles Bullpen Coach
2007 Chicago Cubs Minor League Pitching Coordinator
2006 Pitching Coach, Iowa Cubs, Pacific Coast League, AAA (Cubs)
1998-2005 Pitching Coach, West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx, Southern League, AA (Cubs)
1997 Pitching Coach, Daytona Cubs, Florida State League, A (Cubs)
1995-96 Pitching Coach, Rockford Cubbies, Midwest League, A (Cubs)
1994 Pitching Coach, Peoria Chiefs, Midwest League, A (Cubs)
1993 Pitching Coach, Geneva Cubs, New York-Penn League, A (Cubs)
1991-92 Assistant Coach, Vanderbilt University
(Release)