Brent Shade Position: Assist. Coach/Pitching/Recruiting Coord. Experience: 5th Year at Furman

Brent Shade, now in his fifth season as an assistant coach with the Furman baseball program, has already demonstrated impressive recruiting and player development skills.

As pitching coach, he played an integral part in Furman's 2005 Southern Conference Tournament championship and NCAA Tournament campaign that included victories over nationally 18th-ranked and eventual College World Series participant Tennessee, and a pair of victories over South Carolina for the program's first regular season sweep of the Gamecocks since 1953. Furman's pitching staff, under Shade's guidance, finished fourth in the league in earned run average that season.

In 2006 Furman, aided by a pitching staff that recorded the SoCon's third best ERA (4.45), matched a school record with 32 wins and finished third in the regular conference standings after a consensus preseason No. 7 tab. Included in the campaign was a 5-4 win over sixth-ranked Clemson.

This past year another Shade student, right-hander Matt Klinker, headlined Furman's pitching staff and was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the 15th round of the Major League Draft.

Prior to coming to Furman in 2005, he served as pitching coach at Heidelberg (Ohio) College for two seasons, helping the Student Princes to a 64-26 record, including a 2003 Ohio Athletic Conference regular season crown and 2004 OAC Tournament title. The 2004 squad also made the school's first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament. Under his guidance, Heidelberg pitchers recorded season records for lowest earned run average, lowest opponent batting average, and most strikeouts in 2004.

Shade played at Missouri Valley College and lettered three seasons as a starting pitcher. He transferred to Defiance (Ohio) College, where he graduated with a B.S. degree in business management. He was awarded an M.B.A. from Heidelberg in 2004.

A native of Toledo, Ohio, Shade, 29, is single.