New Arizona baseball coach Chip Hale is adding the next piece to his staff. According to several media reports South Carolina assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Trip Couch will be named as the other full-time assistant on Hale's first staff with the Wildcats.
The longtime coach has had an impressive career in baseball that spans three decades.
His last two years came as a full-time assistant with the Gamecocks after previously serving as the director of player development for that program beginning in 2018.
Couch and Hale have crossed paths before with the new Arizona assistant having been a scout for the Arizona Diamondbacks beginning in 2002. Most of his experience has come at the college level, however, with much of his career spent at the University of Houston.
The North Carolina native had two stints with the Cougars. First he was part of the program as an assistant coach from 1995-200 before returning to Houston for a second stint starting in 2011 and going through 2017 before he left to South Carolina.
Couch has strong ties as a recruiter plus he has been responsible for coaching outfielders, catchers and hitters during his time as an assistant. He was also previously an assistant briefly at Louisiana-Lafayette and Texas earlier in his career.
He will join Dave Lawn as the full-time assistant coaches at Arizona under Hale, who is stepping into a college head coaching role for the first time. Lawn, who will return to his pervious role at UA guiding the pitching staff, has plenty of college experience both on the field and in recruiting like Couch.
Recruiting has the missing element to Hale as a college head coach since he has spent all his time in the professional ranks, but he said during his introductory press conference that he would be bringing in assistants with experience in that area to help him as he learns the ropes as a recruiter.
"It's something actually I'm excited about," Hale said. "I'm excited to meet the guys. First of all, it's identifying the right people, too. That's the key with Dave and the other assistants we're gonna hire. We need really good talent evaluators and guys that can help us win."
Couch was vital to recruiting at South Carolina during his time with the program, and his connections to the professional baseball world should only continue to help him as he steps into his new role.
“I think a lot of mistakes programs may make is they make all that stuff taboo and talking about scouts, talking about the draft, talking about pro ball," he previously told GamecockCentral. "Number one, they’re going to think about those things. So how do you keep that to where they understand you’re not being selfish, you’re not being a non-team guy because your dream is playing in the big leagues?
"I think a lot of what I try to do with them is make them understand that’s OK. Then all of a sudden it’s not this distraction where they’re sneaking around to talk to a scout. Then it becomes, ‘this is what I would tell them if I was you. Here’s how to handle these things.’”
Arizona is coming off a berth in the College World Series, and that is something Hale spoke of when being introduced as the next head coach in Tucson. It is a vision both he and Couch share.
“I guess the one missing thing for me is I’ve never taken a team to Omaha," he previously said. "I’ve been close a few times, and that’s something I really want to be a part of."
Couch played at Louisiana-Lafayette and began his coaching career as a student assistant and bullpen catcher at Houston in 1987 before stepping into his first assistant role in 1991 at his alma mater.
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