CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Travis Janssen, who revived a Northeastern State (Oklahoma) program as head coach in between two stints as the top assistant at Jacksonville State, has been hired as Austin Peay State University’s new head baseball coach.

Janssen replaces Gary McClure, who resigned in August. The Manhattan, Kansas native becomes APSU’s 11th head baseball coach but only second since 1988. He comes to Austin Peay after a short second stop at JSU. After a four-year tenure at Northeastern State and more than 100 wins, he chose to return to Jacksonville State in mid-July to better position himself to become a Division I head coach. Little did he know that would happen two months later.

“We are excited to welcome Travis and his wonderful family to Clarksville and Austin Peay,” APSU Athletics Director Ryan Ivey said. “Throughout the search process, his name continually came up from very well-respected and successful people in the baseball community. He has a vision for the Governors baseball program that will take us to the next level.

“His passion for making a difference in the lives of student-athletes is contagious, and I have no doubt our baseball program will achieve great things under his leadership.”

Janssen began his coaching career as a student assistant at Kansas State in 1996. A year later he moved to Butler County (Kansas) Community College and also served as an associate scout for the Florida Marlins. From 1998-2001, Janssen was a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Arkansas under legendary coach Norm DeBriyn.

He also had coaching stops at Northwestern (La.) State (2001-04) and Hawaii (2005), along with extensive experience coaching summer camps.

Janssen has worked on coaching staffs that have produced 10 major league baseball players, including Atlanta Braves outfielder Todd Cunningham and Donovan Hand, who has pitched with the Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds. Both were former stars at Jacksonville State.

A native of Manhattan, Kansas, Janssen earned his undergraduate degree from Kansas State University in 1996. He was an All-Region VI choice at Butler County and played his final two seasons at New Mexico State. There, he was a third-team National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) All-America selection as a junior and hit .401 before a season-ending injury cut short his senior campaign. He also played one year with the Adirondack Lumberjacks in the Northeastern Independent League.

Janssen is married to the former Christy Brown, of Springdale, Arkansas. The couple has three children.

Janssen’s hiring culminated an exhaustive search process. He represents the first hire of Ivey, who officially came on board as athletics director, August 24.

“We had nearly 100 applicants for the position,” Ivey said. “Of those applicants we selected 12 to phone interview and six to bring to campus. We put them through a rigorous evaluation period to vet each one appropriately to ensure we selected the best candidate. I am confident we did that.”

Photos by Lee Erwin | ClarksvilleNow.com