Ross Spurgeon returned to the Bellarmine University baseball coaching staff prior to the 2023 season, this time as a full-time assistant under then-new Head Coach Chris Dominguez.
Spurgeon, who previously was an assistant at Bellarmine in 2021, serves as the team’s pitching coach/recruiting coordinator. In 2022, Spurgeon took on that same role at Volunteer State (Tenn.) Community College and helped push the Pioneers to a 27-21 record. He followed in the summer by helping lead the Full Count Rhythm of Hendersonville, Tennessee, to the 2022 Ohio Valley League championship as the pitching coach.
Spurgeon was on staff in Bellarmine’s first season in Division I and the ASUN Conference. Third baseman Josh Finerty and outfielder Matt Higgins were named ASUN All-Conference, while first baseman Davis Crane earned ASUN All-Freshman Team accolades. After the 2021 season, righthanded pitcher Deylen Miley signed a free-agent contract with the Houston Astros.
Prior to his first stint at Bellarmine, Spurgeon spent two seasons as the pitching coach at Division II King University in Bristol, Tennessee. In addition to overseeing the pitching staffs of both the varsity and junior varsity squads, he was the team strength and conditioning coach, aided in the strength and conditioning regimens for all other teams at the school and was the nutritionist for all teams.
Spurgeon helped engineer a worst-to-first finish in his two seasons at King. Before the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancelation of the remainder of the season, the Tornado went 15-9 — winning one more game than the previous year in only half a season — and was tied for first place in Conference Carolinas. Spurgeon’s pitching staff made improvements in every statistical category.
Before his stint at King, Spurgeon spent two seasons as the pitching coach and team strength and conditioning coach at NAIA University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Kentucky. The Patriots went 43-17 in 2017 and 47-11 in 2018 while carrying Mid-South Conference marks of 12-6 and 14-2, respectively, those seasons. The team was nationally ranked and earned berths in the regional playoffs of the NAIA World Series both seasons.
As a college pitcher, Spurgeon played his final two seasons at Tennessee Tech, which went 40-17 overall and 24-6 in the Ohio Valley Conference his junior year and 40-19 overall and 18-12 in league play his senior year. The righthander made 41 appearances over his two seasons with the Golden Eagles, including 23 as a senior when he went 4-1 with a 3.68 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 36.2 innings pitched. He was named to the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll and to the OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll. Spurgeon spent his first two collegiate seasons at Cleveland State Community College.
Before entering the coaching ranks, Spurgeon played two seasons of professional baseball in the Frontier League. In 2015, he led the Gateway Grizzlies in appearances (18) and ERA (2.37) while striking out 26 batters in 30.1 innings pitched.
Spurgeon was an EXPW licensee major at Tennessee Tech while earning his bachelor’s degree, and he earned a master’s degree in health and wellness with a focus of nutrition from University of the Cumberlands.
Spurgeon is a native of Cookeville, Tennessee. In 2010, while playing at Cookeville High School, he garnered Louisville Slugger honorable-mention accolades and went 9-1 with two no-hitters. His wife’s name is Rayna.
