BOONE, N.C. – App State Baseball has added Jim Leggett to its coaching staff as Director of Baseball Operations – Pitching Performance, head coach
Kermit Smith announced Friday.
Once a player and an assistant coach under Smith, Leggett now reunites with his mentor following nine seasons as a pitching coach at three Division II programs.
"We couldn't be more excited to have Jim join our staff," Smith said. "He is a winner. He has won at every level that he has been at and will make us better immediately. I look forward to getting him and Kate settled in our great community and watching the impact that he will make on our student-athletes. It is a great day to be a Mountaineer."
Leggett most recently served as the pitching coach at Trevecca Nazarene in Nashville, Tenn., where he helped lead the Trojans to three consecutive 30-win seasons, including a 2021 Division II College World Series berth, followed by a 37-win campaign the following season. In 2023, the Trojans claimed another division title, with two of Leggett's weekend starters earning all-conference recognition with sub-3.00 ERAs.
During his four full seasons at Trevecca Nazarene, Leggett developed 10 all-conference pitchers, including a pair of all-region honorees and one All-American. His 2021 staff boasted a team ERA of 4.30, which led the conference, and ranked as high as eighth nationally during the season.
A native of Rocky Mount, N.C., Leggett was an all-state pitcher and state champion at Rocky Mount High School before beginning his college career in 2009 under Smith at Belmont Abbey, which made it to the Division II College World Series.
Leggett then transferred to Pitt Community College, where he again made a College World Series as a pitcher the following year. Leggett received his associate's degree from Pitt Community College in 2011 and went on to earn his bachelor's degree from East Carolina in 2014.
In 2015, Leggett began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant and pitching coach in Greenwood, S.C., at Lander on a staff with Smith as the head coach and
Britt Johnson as an assistant. Leggett helped Lander's pitchers post a 3.98 ERA that led the Peach Belt in 2016 on the way to a College World Series appearance and a program-record third-place finish in the national rankings.
Leggett went on to become a full-time pitching coach at Francis Marion in Florence, S.C., from 2017-18, helping the Patriots to an 18-2 start during the 2017 season, their best start in program history.
