Nebraska Baseball Head Coach Will Bolt announced Tuesday the hiring of Derek Roy as Director of Player Development.

“We are excited to welcome Derek to Lincoln,” said Bolt. “Derek brings a variety of experience and is a great asset to our staff. His experience with data and analytics will benefit our student-athletes, and I look forward to him joining our program.”

Along with Roy, Garrett Plumlee and Cole Evans join the NU staff as the team’s strength coach and graduate manager.

“Garrett is a great addition to our program and his experience with the Nashville Sounds, TCU and Accelerate Performance Enhancement Center show his ability and success working with high-level baseball players,” added Bolt. “Cole has been one of our leaders for the last two seasons and knows what it takes to be a part of Husker Baseball. I look forward to him beginning his coaching career in our program.”

Roy joins the Huskers with three years of coaching experience, with stops at Georgia State, Wake Technical Community College and William Peace.

In one season at Georgia State, Roy assisted with all aspects of the pitching staff and player development, heading the data and analytics for the Panthers and helping with scouting reports.

Prior to Georgia State, he spent one season at Wake Technical Community College as the recruiting coordinator and pitching coach in 2023. Roy led a recruiting class that led the Eagles to a six-win improvement and had 13 players move on to a four-year university, including four all-region selections.

Roy began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant coach at William Peace in 2022, working with the pitchers and assisting with player development and scouting reports.

Roy has served the last three summers as the pitching coach for the Holly Springs Salamanders in the Coastal Plains League. Roy’s pitching staff finished third in the division in ERA, K/9, WHIP and saves to help the Salamanders reach their highest win total in the organization’s history in 2022.

Along with his time spent coaching in the college ranks and with the Salamanders, Roy has coached National Team Identification Series events for USA Baseball.

Roy played one season at Coker University before finishing his collegiate career at Wake Technical Community College.

Plumlee comes to Lincoln after one season with the Milwaukee Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate Nashville Sounds.

Before his stop in Nashville, Plumlee was a human performance graduate assistant at TCU, working with the baseball and swim and dive programs in 2022-23.

Prior to TCU, Plumlee earned experience working as an intern with the South Alabama football program, Accelerate Performance Enhancement Center and UT Health East Texas.

Evans transitions into a graduate manager role after playing the last two seasons with the Huskers. In his two years with the Big Red, Evans appeared in 105 games while hitting .275 at the plate with 20 doubles, nine home runs and 68 RBI.

Huskers Welcome Cowgirls, Rams to Start 2024

After playing a pair of exhibition matches, the Nebraska soccer team begins its regular season this week at home against Oklahoma State and Colorado State.  

Both matches will be played at Hibner Stadium, with Thursday’s game set for 7:05 p.m. (CT) and Sunday’s game kicking off at 1:05 p.m. (CT). Action will be streamed on B1G+ (subscription required), and fans can purchase general admission and single match tickets to each game by calling 1-800-8 BIG RED or by visiting Huskers.com/tickets. 

Next Up
NU continues its five-match homestand as it hosts Duke on Thursday, Aug. 22 at 7:05 p.m. (CT). 

Quick Notes

• Seniors Florence Belzile, Sarah Weber and Jordan Zade received Big Ten Preseason Honors recognition, announced by the conference on Tuesday.
• The Big Ten also released its preseason poll on Tuesday, as voted by the head coaches. Nebraska is picked to finish fourth in the conference and currently sits in sixth in the United Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll.
• The 2023 season was one to remember as NU ended the year ranked No. 7 in the United Soccer Coaches poll after an impressive NCAA-tournament run, finishing in the Elite Eight for the first time since 1999.
• Last season, the Husker coaching staff was named the NCAA North Region Staff of the Year by the United Soccer Coaches and Eleanor Dale, Sarah Weber and Jordan Zade earned spots on the 2023 All-North Region team. Dale also garnered first-team NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer All-America honors, as she became the 20th All-American in program history and the fourth first-team honoree.
• The 2023 Big Ten Champs finished the season atop the conference rankings in goals scored with 68, also good for fifth in the nation. The Huskers received numerous conference awards led by NCAA First-Team All-American Dale who became the first Husker to claim the Big Ten Forward of the Year honor. Dale was joined by Weber as a first-team All-Big Ten member, and defender Zade and midfielder Haley Peterson were named to the second team.
• The Huskers have 10 regular-season home games scheduled for their 10th season at Hibner Stadium in 2024. Additionally, NU will host one exhibition, five non-conference and five conference matches.
• Nebraska went 3-1-2 during the spring season with victories over Colorado, Kansas and Omaha.
• NU returns three of four All-Big Ten performers from last season, seniors Weber, Peterson and Zade. Nebraska’s all-time all-conference total increased to 110, including 38 honorees since joining the Big Ten in 2011.
• Last season, many Huskers were high in individual standings as Weber tallied 16 total goals, good for fifth in the nation, and midfielder Florence Belzile recorded a team-high 17 assists, which ranked first in the conference and second nationally. Additionally, Belzile’s assists tied for second-most in both conference and Husker history.
• During the 2023 season, the Huskers averaged 1,326 fans per game at Hibner Stadium, third most in Husker history and 15th in the nation. NU garnered 2,318 fans in the NCAA Second Round match versus Tennessee, the most fans in attendance since 2015.
• Head Coach John Walker enters his 31st season, alongside assistant coaches Savanah Anderson-Baer (second season), Ian Bridge (ninth season) and Marty Everding (27th season). 
   
  Scouting the Oklahoma State Cowgirls
• Oklahoma State finished the 2023 season with a 12-8 record overall and 5-5 mark in conference play. OSU opened conference play winning four-straight matches, but eventually fell to Oklahoma in the first round of the Big 12 tournament to end its season.
• The Cowgirls will host Oral Roberts for their home opener on Sunday, Aug. 18 in Stillwater, Okla.
• Head Coach Colin Carmichael enters his 20th season at the helm of the Oklahoma State soccer program. He was previously an assistant with Team USA and has a 251-105-50 collegiate coaching record.
• Players to Watch
  • #13 Xcaret Pineda (Junior MF): Appeared in all the team’s matches and led OSU last season with 60 shots, 25 of which were on goal. Pineda was named to the Preseason All-Big 12 Soccer team.
  • #11 Lauden Wilson (Sophomore MF): Started in 14 of OSU’s matches last season and was tied for the team lead of six assists which gave her a spot on the All-Big 12 Freshman team. 

Scouting the Colorado State Rams

• Colorado State finished the 2023 season with a 12-6-4 record overall and 6-3-2 mark in conference play. CSU made it all the way to the Mountain West Conference Championship game, but eventually fell to Utah State to end its season.
• The Rams will finish off their short road trip on Thursday, Aug. 22 at Northern Colorado.
• Head Coach Keeley Hagen enters her fourth season at the helm of the Colorado State soccer program. She was previously an assistant at Texas and has a 22-21-15 coaching record.
• Players to Watch
  • #18 Olivia Fout (Junior F): Started in all 21 matches she appeared in and set a CSU single-season record with 12 goals. Fout was named the Mountain West Newcomer of the Year and made First team All-Mountain West.
  • #15 Avery Vander Ven (Senior M): Started in all 22 of CSU’s matches last season and set the CSU single-season record with nine assists. Vander Ven was named to the Second-Team All-Mountain Team and the Mountain West All-Newcomer Team. 

Husker Basketball Games at Sanford Pentagon on Sale Thursday

Tickets for the Nebraska men’s and women’s basketball games at the Sanford Pentagon this November go on sale tomorrow (Aug. 15). 

Tickets for the Nov. 16 Nebraska-South Dakota women’s basketball game and the Nebraska-Saint Mary’s men’s basketball game on Nov. 17, will go on sale on ticketmaster.com beginning this Thursday, Aug. 15, at 10 a.m. central. All four programs won at least 23 games in 2023-24, combining for a 95-44 (.683) mark last season.

The Husker women will be making their first appearance at the Sanford Pentagon and are coming off a season where they went 23-13 and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Head Coach Amy Williams, a native of Spearfish, S.D., is entering her ninth season leading Nebraska after spending three seasons (2013-16) as the head coach at South Dakota. Nebraska will be led on the court by first-team All-Big Ten center Alexis Markowski, along with Big Ten Freshman-of-the-Year Natalie Potts.

The Husker men will be making their third appearance at the Sanford Pentagon following a win over Oregon State last November. The Huskers return three starters from a team that went 23-11 and reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014. Seniors Brice Williams and Juwan Gary anchor a Husker attack that returns seven letterwinners and adds seven transfers in 2024-25. 

The start times and broadcast information for both contests will be announced at a later date.