University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Baseball
- Title:
- Associate Head Coach
- Phone:
- (337) 482-5189
From a student assistant in 1995 to an assistant coach in 1997 to the newly appointed Chief of Staff and Director of Player and Program Development, Anthony Babineaux has been a mainstay on the Louisiana baseball coaching staff under head coach Matt Deggs.
In his current role, Babineaux will focus on the day-to-day operations of the program, including putting together one of the best non-conference schedules in the country, coordinating travel and student-athlete eligibility and handling player relations. He also serves as the liaison between Coach Deggs and the baseball staff, senior administration and other departmental offices.
He served as the Louisiana hitting coach from 2009-12. In his first year as the hitting coach, the Cajuns increased their batting average by 30 points. Runs scored, doubles, triples, RBI, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage also increased.
In 2010, the Cajuns stole 101 bases, which was one off the Sun Belt lead and most since 2002. UL had four players with double-digit stolen bases, also the highest since 2002. Alex Fuselier (20), Kyle Olasin (19) and Brian Bowman (17) finished in the Sun Belt's Top 10.
In 2011, the Cajuns led the Sun Belt Conference in stolen bases with 82. Three players, Alex Fuselier (14), Mike Petello (13), and Greg Fontenot (12), finished with double-digit stolen bases.
Babineaux has played a major part of several top recruiting classes that have come to Louisiana. Along with assistant coach Jeremy Talbot, he was instrumental in the first-ever top 25 recruiting class in school and Sun Belt history seeing the 2015 class ranked as high as 13th by Collegiate Baseball and 15th by D1Baseball.
His 2011 recruiting class was reranked the 17th best in the nation by D1Baseball after the member of that class helped guide the Cajuns to three straight NCAA tournament appearances and two super regionals.
In 2005, he and former assistant coach John Szefc along with the rest of the Cajuns staff saw their signing class ranked 55th in the nation and tops in the Sun Belt Conference by Collegiate Baseball.
In 2007, Baseball America ranked their signing class tops in the Lower Midwest Region and SBC.
Working with the infielders and hitters, he has helped guide UL to three of the top four single-season batting average totals in school history. Along the way, the Cajuns recorded numerous Sun Belt Conference regular season and tournament championships, appeared in 12 NCAA Regionals, advanced to four NCAA Super Regionals and the 2000 College World Series.
Since 2001, Babineaux has helped the Cajuns claim regular season conference championships in 2005, 2007, 2010, 2014 and 2016 and earn regional bids in 2002, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2016. During that span the Ragin’ Cajuns have also captured back-to-back regional championships in 2014 and 2015.
The 2014 club saw unprecedented success, setting the school record for wins (58) and achieving the No. 1 national ranking by all five of college baseball’s major polls.
In spring 2012, College Baseball Insider tabbed Babineaux as the Assistant Coach in the Sun Belt Conference most ready for a head coaching job.
From 1990-2000, Babineaux coached a Third District West American Legion team and guided his squads to five titles (1993, 1997-2000), seven regional appearances (1990, 1993, 1996-2000) and two state tournaments (1998 & 1999). In 1998, he guided his squad to a state title, Midwest Regional appearance and fell just two games short of a spot in the American Legion National World Series.
Babineaux is a 1995 graduate of UL, earning a degree in health and physical education. He came to UL in 1990 from Carencro High School. He was a two-time all-district and all-parish selection for the Bears. He gained all-state and all-district honors with his talent on the trumpet and has played the "Star Spangled Banner" both at "Tigue" Moore Field and Lamson Park.
He is a member of the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and has served as guest speaker at many clinics around Louisiana.
Babineaux resides in Lafayette with his wife, Debbie and has two daughters, Brooklyn and Sydney.
