NEW ORLEANS – New head baseball coach,
Andrew Gipson has announced three new hires to fill out his coaching staff ahead of the 2026 season in Mike Mendoza, Spence Drake and Connor Manola.
Mendoza comes over from Tennessee Wesleyan where he was Associate Head Coach of the program during the recently completed 2025 season. The Bulldogs went 48-14 and got to the NAIA World Series. They finished #5 in the final NAIA poll. Tennessee Wesleyan had the conference Player of the Year (Daniel Stewart) and Newcomer of the Year (Kolton Reynolds).
Previously, he spent five years at Southeastern (Fla.). Mendoza was National Assistant Coach of the Year in 2021. In 2022, the Fire won 59 games on their way to an NAIA national championship. Mendoza played at Glendale CC and Iowa Wesleyan and was an All-American at both schools.
"I would like to thank Coach Gipson for the opportunity to work at a place of great tradition," said Mendoza. "I would also like to thank Athletic Director
Vince Granito, President Dr. Kathy Johnson and Coach Ron Maestri for the support of this program. I look forward to making this organization proud."
Spence Drake spent the last two seasons with Coach Gipson at Belhaven and was part of the historic club that reached its first NCAA Div. III Regional and advanced further to the Super Regional. Eight Blazers earned all-conference recognition and three were all-region selections.
Drake was a graduate assistant at West Alabama and prior to that, he was a student manager at Louisiana Tech from 2019-23. At Belhaven, Drake was the recruiting coordinator and was over all offensive aspects of the program.
"I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity to serve this university and this city of New Orleans," said Drake. "Special thank you to Athletic Director
Vince Granito and Coach Gipson for believing in me, I am looking forward to being a part of the continued growth of this program."
Connor Manola played for Gipson while at Southeastern. Upon graduation, Manola followed Head Coach Matt Riser to Memphis where he spent the last two seasons working primarily with the catchers. The Tigers led the American Athletic Conference in each of the last two years in runners caught stealing (34 in 2024 and 27 in 2025). Their caught stealing percentage in '24 (40%) was a program record.
Manola was a four-year team captain at Southeastern and was part of the 2022 squad that won the postseason championship and advanced to an NCAA Regional. In his playing career, Manola threw out 31 percent of runners attempting to steal.
"I am excited to be joining the University of New Orleans baseball program. I'm grateful to Dr. Kathy Johnson,
Vince Granito and
Andrew Gipson for placing their trust in me and allowing me to be part of this next chapter of Privateer baseball. There's a real sense of momentum around this program and I'm excited to help push that forward as we build something this university and city can rally behind."
FROM COACH GIPSON:
"We are lucky to have Mike. He is a tireless recruiter and really connected nationally. I'm excited about him as a coach too. He has a genuine care for player development. He will help us with the offense and outfielders. Above all, he's someone that our guys can look to for guidance in all areas of their lives. It's important for me to have people with that kind of substance in the room."
"I have a special relationship with Connor. I started recruiting him 12 years ago, and we've been close since. He's cut from a similar cloth as me-a catcher turned pitching coach. He will work with our pitchers and catchers. He's proven to be a molder of men and a developer of talent. I am extremely thankful for his belief in our program. Our guys are lucky to have him in the room."
"I'm extremely excited Spence made the decision to join our program. He's been around high level baseball for the last 6 years. His time at La Tech, West Alabama, and Belhaven have molded him perfectly for this role with us. He will be our hitting coach and work with infielders. He's a proven developer of talent. I've been around a lot of hitting guys over the last 14 years. I'd put him up there with the best in the business. I'm grateful for his trust and excited to go to work with him every day."
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