Baseball
- Title:
- Associate Head Coach/Recruiting Coordinator
- Email:
- sdaeley@sports.uga.edu
- Phone:
- 706-542-7971
Associate head coach/recruiting coordinator Scott Daeley recently completed his 10th season with the University of Georgia baseball program. Daeley, 46, serves as Georgia's hitting coach, works with the outfielders and is the third base coach.
The 2023 Bulldogs finished with a 29-27 mark. The team overcame a 1-9 SEC start to go 10-10 over its final 20 league games to qualify for the SEC Tournament. The Bulldogs smashed 101 home runs, the third most in school history. Georgia's lineup featured first baseman/outfielder Charlie Condon who was voted the SEC Freshman of the Year by league coaches as well as second team All-SEC. He set the SEC freshman record for home runs with 25 and was named a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy. For the second straight year, graduate Ben Anderson was named the SEC Baseball Scholar-Athlete-of-the-Year. The team set a school record with a .981 fielding percentage.
The 2022 squad advanced to the NCAA Chapel Hill (N.C.) Regional and posted a 36-23 overall record including a 15-15 mark in the SEC, which was good for second place in the Eastern Division. Georgia batted .284 with 81 home runs. The team batting average was the best since 2010 and the home run tally was the most since a record 109 were hit by the 2009 squad. Pitchers Jack Gowen and Jonathan Cannon earned All-America honors, shortstop Cole Tate made the Southeast All-Region Second Team while centerfielder Ben Anderson was tabbed the SEC Baseball Scholar-Athlete-of-the-Year. Also, pitcher Jaden Woods received an invitation to the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team Summer Training Camp.
The 2021 team spent 11 weeks in the nation's top 25 rankings and reached as high as No. 5 before a slew of injuries eventually took its toll on the club. Still, Georgia went 8-14 against top 10 ranked teams including a winning a road series over No. 1 Vanderbilt, which marked the Commodores only home series loss. The Bulldogs ended the season at the SEC Tournament with a 31-25 record. Outfielder Connor Tate earned ABCA/Rawlings All-South Region second team honors while catcher/designated hitter Corey Collins and pitcher Jaden Woods were named Freshman All-SEC by the league coaches. Also, Woods earned second team Freshman All-America honors by Perfect Game/Rawlings.
Georgia was poised to have another memorable season in 2020 when the campaign ended after 18 games due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bulldogs finished the year ranked as high as No. 2 nationally with a 14-4 record. The Bulldogs were led at the plate by sophomore Ben Anderson (.414-0-13) and junior Tucker Bradley (.397-6-23). The team batted .279 with a .420 slugging percentage, 18 home runs and was 29-for-33 in stolen bases. Bradley and senior shortstop Cam Shepherd signed as free agents in the shortened five-round 2020 MLB Draft.
The Bulldogs posted one of their best regular seasons in school history in 2019, going 42-14 including a school record 21-9 in the Southeastern Conference. Then, Georgia advanced to the semifinals of the SEC Tournament and played host to another NCAA Regional as a top eight National Seed. This was the first time in school history that Georgia served as an NCAA host site as a National Seed in back-to-back seasons. Also, it was only the third time for the program to make back-to-back NCAA Regional appearances. Georgia finished the 2019 season with a 46-17 record, and the win total was the fourth most in school history while the 42 victories during the regular season was the second most. For the second straight year, the Bulldogs established a school record for Fielding Percentage (.980). Offensively, Georgia hit 75 home runs including a school record eight grand slams.
Junior third baseman/closer Aaron Schunk, a second round draft pick of the Colorado Rockies, was named the 2019 John Olerud Award recipient as the nation's top two-way player by the College Baseball Foundation. Shepherd, a 20th round selection of the Tampa Bay Rays, received a Gold Glove for his play at shortstop from ABCA/Rawlings. He opted to return to Georgia in 2020. Schunk and pitcher Emerson Hancock were consensus All-America selections to highlight the Bulldog individual honors from 2019. A total of eight Bulldogs were selected in the 2019 Major League Baseball Draft with six opting to turn professional and another signing a free agent contract. Also of note, Hancock and freshman pitcher Cole Wilcox garnered USA Collegiate National Team summer invitations.Â
The 2018 season marked Georgia's finest in a decade. The Bulldogs went 39-21 overall, 18-12 in the SEC, earned a No. 8 national seed for the NCAA Tournament, advanced to the NCAA Athens Regional Final and finished with a consensus top 25 ranking. Georgia's .282 batting average was its best since 2010, and the 64 home runs, including a school record seven grand slams, was the most since a record 109 in 2009. In August of 2018, Daeley was promoted to associate head coach/recruiting coordinator.
Two Bulldog hitters were 2018 MLB draft picks in ninth round selection Keegan McGovern (Seattle) and 16th rounder Michael Curry (San Diego). McGovern, a four-year starting outfielder, was a Third Team All-American while Curry, a three-year starter at DH/C/OF, made Second Team All-SEC. Sophomore third baseman/closer Aaron Schunk garnered Third Team All-America honors from the NCBWA as a utility player. He was one of three finalists for the John Olerud Award. Catcher Mason Meadows was named a Second Team Freshman All-American by D1Baseball as well as to the SEC All-Freshman Team while pitcher/outfielder C.J. Smith was named a Second Team Freshman All-American by the NCBWA.
In Daeley's first season, Georgia's highlights included returning to the SEC Tournament for the first time since 2012 and two Bulldog hitters being selected in the Major League Baseball (MLB) draft. Shortstop Nelson Ward was a 12th round pick while outfielder/third baseman Hunter Cole was drafted in the 26th round. In 2015, Georgia raised its team batting average 11 points, hit 27 more home runs from a year ago, going from 13 to 40, and tallied 63 stolen bases, the most by the Bulldogs in five years. Also, outfielder Keegan McGovern earned Freshman All-SEC honors. The Bulldogs had two hitters sign professional contracts in catcher Zack Bowers and first baseman Jared Walsh. In 2019, Walsh made his Major League debut with the Los Angeles Angels.
In 2016, Georgia returned to the SEC Tournament, and three hitters went on to sign professional contracts highlighted by sixth round draft pick Stephen Wrenn. Â Also, freshman catcher Michael Curry earned Freshman All-America and All-SEC honors. In 2017, Curry was named the first team All-SEC designated hitter while Cam Shepherd earned Freshman All-America and Freshman All-SEC honors. The Bulldogs again reached the SEC Tournament.
In the area of recruiting, Daeley has steadily improved Georgia classes according to the Perfect Game USA national rankings. They are consistently in the top 25 and have been as high as No. 3 (2017).
Daeley arrived at Georgia from Kent State in June of 2013 where he was a member of Scott Stricklin's staff for nine years. As the hitting coach at KSU, Daeley helped develop 30 All-Mid-American Conference position players, three MAC Players of the Year and six All-Americans. During Daeley's time as recruiting coordinator at KSU, the Golden Flashes assembled classes that excelled both on the field and in the classroom. He was a part of the KSU program that made five NCAA Regional appearances highlighted by the 2012 College World Series.
A total of 36 Flashes were selected in the Major League Baseball Draft from 2005-13 including 26 during his final five seasons at KSU. After the 2012 season that saw the Flashes reach the College World Series, Baseball America went back and re-ranked the recruiting classes from 2008 and ranked the Golden Flashes as having the ninth best class. The 2006 class was ranked by Baseball America as the No. 17 class in the country becoming the first Mid-American Conference program to be included in their recruiting Top 25.
In conference play, KSU hitters finished in the top three in the MAC in batting average, runs and on base percentage for the past eight years and finished in the top three in fielding percentage seven of the past eight seasons. The Golden Flashes have led the league in home runs four times and taken home the batting average and runs scored crown on three occasions. In 2009, the Golden Flashes set a single season MAC record for runs scored during a season when they crossed the plate 504 times. The 2012 Kent State offense led the country in doubles with 163 and finished third in hits with 729.
Prior to going to Kent State, Daeley served as a volunteer assistant coach for two years at his alma mater Wake Forest. Daeley rejoined the Wake Forest baseball program in May 2002 after playing three years in the San Francisco Giants organization. Daeley played center field and batted leadoff for the Demon Deacons in 1998 and 1999 and was the catalyst for back-to-back Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament Championship teams. He earned second team All-ACC honors in 1999 with 27 doubles and 83 runs scored, the second most in a single season in Wake Forest baseball history.
A 31st round draft pick of the Giants following the 1999 season, Daeley played with Shreveport, San Jose and Salem-Keizer. Daeley came to Wake Forest from Cypress Junior College in California where he hit .350 and ranked among the school's all-time leaders with 98 runs scored and 43 stolen bases. He was named co-MVP of the 1997 junior college state championships.
A native of Orange, Calif., Daeley received a business degree from Wake Forest in December 2002. Scott and his wife, Alison, have two daughters, Sloan (13) and Paige (12).
The Scott Daeley File
Born: Feb. 25, 1977
High School: Mater Dei, Santa Ana, Calif.
College: Wake Forest, B.A. in 2002
Family: Wife: Alison; Children: Sloan (13) and Paige (12)
Playing Career
Cypress Junior College, Cypress, Calif., 1996-97 Wake Forest, 1998-99
31st Round Draft Pick, San Francisco, 1999; Minor Leagues: 1999-2002
Coaching Career
Volunteer Assistant, Wake Forest, 2002-04
Assistant Coach, Kent State, 2005-2013
Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator, University of Georgia, 2013-2018
Associate Head Coach/Recruiting Coordinator, University of Georgia, 2018-present
