Former Orioles minor league player named Towson baseball coach

Matt Tyner, who was drafted by the Orioles and played three minor league seasons for them, is the new baseball coach at Towson University.

He will officially be introduced at 1 p.m. Friday by the school. He replaces Mike Gottlieb, who was fired less than a month ago after 30 years as coach and four straight losing seasons.

Tyner, 58, spent the last four seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Richmond.

"First off, I want to thank God for this opportunity," Tyner said. "Secondly, I want to thank President Kim Schatzel and Athletic Director Tim Leonard for having the faith and the trust in me to guide the Towson University baseball program.  I am very excited for this opportunity as it fulfills a life-long dream.

"The amount of support and level of commitment that I have received from Tim and his staff continues to show me that Towson baseball has a bright future ahead. I look forward to hitting the ground running with my new team."

Tyner was a four-year starter for the University of Miami, where he helped lead the Hurricanes to three College World Series. A power hitting outfielder, Tyner was named the 1980 Baskin Robbins Player of the Year and tied the Miami home run record.

The Orioles selected him in the ninth round of the 1980 Major League Baseball Draft. He spent three years in the Orioles' system, leading the organization in home runs in 1981 with 33, while hitting .301. His career ended in 1983 because of elbow injuries.

"We are very excited for Matt to be our next head coach," said Towson athletic director Tim Leonard.  "We had a very talented candidate pool and Matt stood out with his vision of turning this program into a contender.

"His success as a player and coach, as well as in the business sector, made him the ideal person to be the next head coach at Towson."

As Richmond's hitting coach, the Spiders ranked at or near the top of the Atlantic 10 in several offensive categories.

This past season, Tyner helped run an offense that finished in the top five in the league in average (.280), hits (522) and doubles (103).

Prior to his time in Richmond, Tyner spent two seasons as the head coach at Bellarmine University in Kentucky.  He had a 60-46 overall record and led the Knights to the GLVC championship in his second season.

He took over the program at Bellarmine after completing two different stints as the top assistant at Butler.

A native of Decatur, Ill., Tyner completed his bachelor's degree in business communications at Concordia University's Indianapolis campus.

Gottlieb, who finished his career at Towson with a 733-821-10 record, took the Tigers to all three of their NCAA Division I tournament appearances. Towson reached the tournament for the first time as a Division I team in Gottlieb's first season in 1988, and again in 1991. The last time came in 2013, two months after then-president Maravene Loeschke's decision to cut baseball and men's soccer was made.