Head Coach: Terry Burrows

Terry Burrows, who played and coached at McNeese State University and who had an 11 year professional career as a player, has been named the Cowboys new head baseball coach.

McNeese interim athletic director Tommy McClelland made the announcement of Burrows selection Thursday afternoon.

"We had 28 candidates ," McClelland said. "And, Terry was the one we wanted. He has the credentials, having played and coached on the collegiate level and having played professionally. He has a commitment to this area and to McNeese State."

Burrows replaces Chad Clement who had resigned as the Cowboy head coach five games into the 2007 season. Assistant coach Chris Fackler was appointed interim head coach for the remainder of the year.

The 39 year old Burrows most recently served as head coach at St.Louis High in Lake Charles where he coached the team to its first district title in 10 years.

Prior to that he had served as an assistant coach both at McNeese State and at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. At St.Louis he had seven players go on to sign college scholarships while at Louisiana-Monroe he helped develop a staff that had five pitchers selected in the major league draft.

As an assistant coach at McNeese, Burrows helped a pitching staff that won a Southland Conference tournament and participated in the NCAA regional tournament.

"This is the job I wanted," Burrows said. "This is my home. I could have probably gone anywhere after my professional career but this is where I wanted to be."

The left handed Burrows had an 11 year professional career, compiling a 4-4 won-lost record while recording two saves in the major leagues with Texas, Milwaukee and San Diego. He also played in Japan, Mexico and Venezuela.

As a collegiate pitcher for the Cowboys, he was named the player of the year in the Southland Conference in 1990 when he posted a 10-3 won-lost record along with a 1.58 ERA. During a two year career at McNeese, Burrows won 15 games. He still holds the school record for most strikeouts in a nine inning game (19 vs Louisiana-Lafayette in 1990) and 15 strikeouts in a seven inning game (vs Louisiana College in 1989).

Burrows was drafted by the Texas Rangers following his junior year.

He holds a bachelor of science degree from McNeese, is married to the former Lynne Huddelston and the couple has three children.

Recruiting Coordinator: Bubbs Merrill

The new McNeese assistant coach started his collegiate career at Texarkana Community College and after batting .424 as a sophomore when he earned all-conference and all-region honors, he received a scholarship to Nebraska.

Merrill played one season at Nebraska, batting .241, and then transferred to Arkansas. At Arkansas he was part of the 2004 Southeastern Conference Championship team that earned a berth to the College World Series. He hit .273 in his only season with the Razorbacks and hit a home run in a NCAA Regional game against Wichita State.

Following his senior year with the Razorbacks, he served the team as a graduate assistant coach and last year was a volunteer coach, assisting with the team's hitters and coaching the catchers.

Assistant Coach: Clay Van Hook

Clay Van Hook, who played and coached at the University of Texas, has been named an assistant baseball coach at McNeese State. Cowboy head coach Terry Burrows announced Van Hook’s appointment. He will join Bubbs Merrill on Burrows’ staff. “We’re excited to have Clay join our staff,” Burrows said. “He comes from a quality program and has the experience of having worked with one of the best coaches in college baseball in Augie Garrido.” Burrows said that the 23 year old coach will work with the infielders, will help with hitting and will recruit.

A native of Brenham, TX, Van Hook played three seasons at the University of Texas as an infielder. He also served as a student assistant coach for the Longhorns for the 2008 season. In his first year with Texas, he was named to the Big 12 all-conference second team as an infielder. In his three years with the Longhorns he was one of the team’s better fielding infielders, committing only seven errors in 94 games. Van Hook also played one season of baseball at Navarro Junior College, being named to play in the Texas/New Mexico junior college all-star game.

During his high school career at Brenham High, he was named to the all-state baseball team four years in a row and played in the Texas Class AAAA state championship game as a quarterback.

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