Elmhurst Names New Baseball Coach

Reprinted with permission from Elmhurst College

Elmhurst, Ill. -- Elmhurst College has selected Joel Southern as its new head baseball coach. Southern, who has spent the past four seasons as a coach at Western New England College, becomes the 12th head coach in the program’s history. Southern, who served as an assistant baseball coach at Elmhurst during the 2002 season, takes over for Clark Jones, who stepped down after 14 seasons at the helm of the Bluejay baseball team.           

“This is a tremendous opportunity for me,” said Southern. “I’m looking forward to building and expanding on Coach Jones’ accomplishments.”           

 “Having coached at Elmhurst and also played collegiate baseball in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW), Joel Southern is very familiar with our league and what it takes to be successful,” said Elmhurst College Athletic Director Paul Krohn. “He has an established credibility in both the baseball and academic arena. He has strong philosophical beliefs and is very committed to seeing our student-athletes succeed both on and off the field.”

Southern began as an assistant coach at Western New England and was promoted to associate head coach in 2005.  During his tenure with Western New England, the Golden Bears compiled a record of 121-52 (.699), including three consecutive 30-win seasons.  The team advanced to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament all four years and finished no lower than second place. This past season, the Golden Bears won both the GNAC regular season and tournament championships and advanced to the NCAA New England Regional where they placed third. Western New England also advanced to the NCAA Tournament during the 2004 season. In addition to his coaching duties at Western New England, Southern also served as the Head Coach of the Holyoke Giants in the New England College Baseball League (NECBL), a wood-bat collegiate summer league. He guided the Giants to a 23-18 record last season while advancing to the playoffs. His team finished 17-25 in 2004, its inaugural season in the league. He also served as an assistant coach at the University of Chicago from 1997-98. Southern inherits a Bluejay baseball team that posted a 14-23-1 overall record and placed eighth in the CCIW in 2006.

“The Elmhurst baseball team has had some periods where it has had good amounts of success,” said Southern. “The challenge for me is to try and sustain that success year after year. I believe that a daily commitment to excellence in how we approach our games, practices, and off-the-field activities is critical. Paying attention to detail in everything we do ultimately leads to success.”

A 1994 graduate of Augustana College (Ill.), Southern was a three-year starter and letter winner for the Vikings’ baseball team, earning all-CCIW second team honors as well as being chosen as a third-team GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-American®. Southern finished his Augustana baseball career with a .308 batting average. He also earned two varsity letters in football at Augustana.            

Southern earned a Master of Science degree in chemistry from the University of Chicago in 1995. He also earned his Ph.D. degree in inorganic chemistry from Chicago in 1999. Most recently, he earned a Master of Education degree in physical education (concentration in athletic administration) at Springfield College (Mass.) in 2004.            

In addition to his coaching duties, he also served as an assistant professor of chemistry at Western New England.

A native of Latham, Ill., Southern and his wife, Carey, will be looking for residence in the Elmhurst area.