Concord's Kevin Garrett retires as AD, head baseball coach
May 7—ATHENS — Concord University Director of Athletics and head baseball coach Kevin Garrett has announced his retirement from both roles, the athletic department released Monday morning.
Garrett will continue to serve the athletic department in a consultant role moving forward. Luke Duffy and Tesla Southcott will take over as Co-Athletic Directors.
Concord has begun a national search for the next baseball coach.
"I would like to thank my wife Robin. She has been the ultimate coach's wife and one of the biggest supporters of Concord Athletics for nearly 30 years," Garrett said. "I'm looking forward to spending more time with her and the rest of our family."
As an athletic administrator, Garrett oversaw the growth of Concord Athletics from 2009-2024. And in the dugout, he racked up 570 wins from 1996-2010 and 2016-2024.
"I would like to thank Dr. Kendra Boggess for her leadership of the university over many years," Garret said. "She has been outstanding to work for and I consider her not only a great leader, but a dear friend."
Since 2009, Concord has won 17 conference championships and made 26 appearances in the NCAA Division II Postseason. In that same time period, CU has produced 33 All-Americans and seen 224 student-athletes earn all-conference first team honors.
The biggest accomplishments for the Mountain Lions since Garrett's arrival as athletic director have been CU's first national champion with Shawnee Carnett claiming two track titles, the football team making the national semifinals in 2014 and the women's soccer program advancing to the national quarterfinals in 2021.
"I've been very grateful to lead Concord Athletics over the last 15 years. I have a lot of great memories in seeing Concord's success and growth," Garrett said.
"I look forward to assisting Luke and Tesla in however they may need me in the future."
It's been a blessing to work with so many great coaches in our athletic department, but what has made Concord the most special is those coaches are great people and have become good friends, Garrett continued.
The Pineville, West Virginia native also installed Concord's GRIP program which is a study table program to help student-athletes in the classroom with study hall hours and tutoring assistance.
Among the facility upgrades on Garrett's watch have been the installation of new turf at Callaghan Stadium, Anderson Field and the CU Softball Field. In 2016, a new track surface was laid down around Callaghan Stadium for the first time in more than a decade.
The latest project for Concord Athletics was the renovation of new bleachers inside the Carter Center at Christie/Cox Court in April of 2024.
On the baseball diamond, Garrett retires as the winningest active coach in the Mountain East Conference. He was a four-time conference coach of the year—2001, 2003, 2008, 2023. He coached ten All-Americans, 21 all-region players and 38 all-conference players with more to come this week. Garrett led the Mountain Lions to the 2001 WVIAC Championship and Concord qualified for three NCAA Tournament appearances—2001, 2007, 2008.
"I've been very fortunate to recruit and coach talented baseball players who have gone from being good young men to outstanding fathers and husbands," Garrett said.
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