Erik Bakich retaining two members of Clemson baseball staff

New Clemson baseball head coach Erik Bakich is keeping a couple of familiar names around the program.

Clemson Director of Operations Brad Owens and Tigers Director of Player Development Ben Paulsen have been retained by Bakich, he told On3 on Wednesday.

Owens recently wrapped up his 15th season with the Tigers baseball program, while Paulsen just finished his fourth season as a member of the full-time staff.

“Meeting with them, it was clear within the first seven seconds that these guys need to stay on staff. They’re very good at what they do,” Bakich said.

Owens played college baseball at nearby Anderson University and also spent time in minor league baseball, before joining Jack Leggett’s staff.

Bakich added that Owens contributes a ton to the Tigers program behind the scenes.

“His responsibilities extend so much beyond what you would think of in an operations type role. He does so much more than just team logistics,” he said. “This is someone who is connected to everyone in the administration and on campus. He is an administrator. He has that type of personality. It was very clear right away that he is so valuable to our team and to our staff and to our program.”

Paulsen’s responsibilities include player development, opponent scouting, facility organization, enhancement and technology, recruiting and alumni relations, student-athlete transition and student-athlete services.

Paulsen starred at Clemson during his playing days, before being drafted in the third round of the 2009 draft by the Colorado Rockies. He spent three seasons in the majors.

“His ability to decipher complex terms in player development and put them into a very simple way for the players to digest is just a skill that not everybody has,” Bakich said. “Everybody can regurgitate the complexity of advanced tech data and analytics, but it doesn’t matter unless the players understand it. He’s got a very good skillset of being able to simplify it for the players, and that’s something we place a huge value on inside of our program.”