VCU Baseball pitching coach promoted to head coach

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — The Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Baseball team has named its new head coach after the team’s former coach departed for a job coaching Liberty University’s team.

VCU Athletic Director Ed McLaughlin announced on Monday, July 22 that Sean Thompson, the team’s pitching coach, was named head coach after Bradley LeCroy, the team’s coach since 2022, left to become the head coach at Liberty.

Thompson played baseball at VCU from 2015 to 2018, during which he had a 27-10 record, 249 strikeouts and 3.3 earned runs allowed per game (ERA) over 300 innings. His 27 wins are the second-most by a pitcher in VCU’s history.

After graduating in 2018, Thompson signed with the Chicago White Sox and appeared in 14 starts for the Great Falls Voyagers of the independent Pioneer League.

Thompson returned to VCU in 2021 as the team’s Director of Pitching Development and then became the pitching coach at Monmouth University in 2022, during which the team had the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference’s second-most strikeouts and second-fewest walks.

Thompson became an assistant coach at Florida International University in 2023 before returning to VCU again as the team’s pitching coach last season, during which the team had the Atlantic 10 Conference’s lowest ERA and won the conference tournament.

“I am incredibly humbled for the opportunity to lead the VCU Baseball program,” Thompson said. “I want to thank Ed McLaughlin and everyone who was involved in this process. I could not be more excited about this opportunity to continue VCU’s championship baseball tradition. This program is steeped in history. My goals are to continue to win championships and provide the best student-athlete experience possible. Go Rams!”

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