Tighe Dickinson begins his first season as FIU pitching coach. Dickinson previously coached six years as an assistant coach at Arkansas State.
Dickinson brings over 16 years of coaching experience including four years as a pitching coach at the University of Washington. During his career, Dickinson has coached numerous Major League Baseball pitchers including two-time World Series Champion Tim Lincecum, 2013 World Series Champion Jon Lester and 2010 MLB All-Star Evan Meek.
In the 2015 season, Arkansas State pitched to a 4.58 ERA and struck out the second-most batters in school history with 426. The staff also held opposing hitters to a .262 batting average.
Dickinson also coached two more draft picks in David Owen and Chandler Hawkins. Owen was again the team's best starting pitcher with a 3.25 ERA and was selected in the 19th round by the San Francisco Giants. Chandler Hawkins had another dominant outing in the SBC Tournament to propel himself to a 33rd round draft pick of the St. Louis Cardinals. He also helped Coulton Lee to a 3.03 ERA after posting an ERA of 9.00 as a freshman.
The 2014 Red Wolves pitching staff struck out 423 batters, the third most in school history and collected 32 wins. Dickinson helped guide Bradley Wallace who was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays with 307th pick in the 10th round of the 2014 MLB Amateur Draft in June. He is the second-highest draft pick in Red Wolves history and the fifth pitcher that Dickinson has had drafted since arriving at Arkansas State.
In 2013 he coached one of the best pitching staffs in ASU history, including guiding Daniel Wright, who was a 10th round selection of the Cincinnati Reds, to an First Team All-Sun Belt Conference selection. Dickinson also helped John Koch become the school's all-time leader in saves and helped the 2013 pitching staff obliterate the team record for strikeouts in a season. The 2013 staff struck out 487 batters, breaking the record by 80 strikeouts, which had stood for over 15 years.
While at ASU, Dickinson had five players drafted including Bradley Wallace (Tampa Bay Rays), Daniel Wright (Cincinnati Reds), Jacob Lee (Cleveland Indians-2012), Brandon Farley (San Francisco Giants-2012) and Andy Ferguson (Kansas City Royals-2011). In all, Dickinson has coached 17 pitchers who have been drafted by Major League Baseball teams.
Prior to his time at ASU, Dickinson coached 13 drafted pitchers including a first and second round pick while at Washington. Dickinson served as an assistant coach at Montesano High School in 2009-10 where he led the squad to a 21-4 first-place league finish and an appearance in the state playoffs.
Prior to his appointment at Washington, Dickinson served as head coach at Edmonds Community College where he led the squad to a third-place finish in the NWAACC Tournament and a 75-16 record as head coach, including a 40-8 conference mark.
Dickinson also served as head coach at Skyline High School in Issaquah in 2003, guiding the team to a 14-7 overall mark and a 13-5 conference record. He also served as pitching coach at Edmonds CC in 2000 and 2001.
Aside from his work at Edmonds and Skyline, Dickinson has also served as pitching coach at Taylor Baseball, a top youth summer program, since 2001. Taylor took third place in the national AAU tournament in 2001 and in 2002, finished second at the USA Baseball Federation national tournament. During the 2005 summer season, Taylor finished second at the USABF World Series and completed the season with a 59-7-1 record.
A native of Montesano, Wash., Dickinson graduated from Montesano High in 1994. After one year at Green River CC, he played three seasons of college baseball as a pitcher at Alabama-Birmingham, lettering in 1996, 1997 and 1998. In 1999, he earned a bachelor's degree in secondary education from UAB. He married his wife, Billie, on August 9, 2014.
