Casey Dykes - Baseball Coach - Indiana University Athletics

Casey Dykes

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
dykesca@iu.edu
Phone:
(812) 855-9155

Casey Dykes was named the volunteer assistant coach for the IU baseball program on July 11, 2018.

"I coached Casey at Western Kentucky and then coached with him for a year, before he left to become the recruiting coordinator at Virginia Military Institute,” said head coach Jeff Mercer. “His outstanding track record of player development and tireless work ethic will be driving forces in our program's success. I'm thrilled to work with Casey again and we're very fortunate he's joining IU Baseball."

“I am extremely grateful to Jeff Mercer and Indiana University for giving me this opportunity and believing in me,” said Dykes. “It is an unbelievable feeling for my family to join the Hoosier tradition and have a role in the vision of Coach Mercer. I have complete trust in his ability to lead and develop young men in this game and in life at the highest level. This is an exciting time in Bloomington and I understand the expectation at Indiana. I can promise the players, coaches, and entire Indiana family that they will get my very best every single day. Let’s go to work."

Dykes comes to Indiana after spending the last four seasons with the VMI baseball program. He worked with the catchers, hitters and served as the program's recruiting coordinator. He saw 14 of his players earn all-conference honors, five draft picks – including a school-record three underclassmen in 2018 - and his hitters paced VMI to two top-10 finishes in Division I home runs. His hitters posted 32 top-10 efforts among the VMI record books, and he coached two of the three players in school history to earn All-American honors.

During the 2018 season, Dykes’ protégé Matt Pita, who was named a Third Team All-American by ABCA, hit .389 with 14 homers, 21 doubles, 48 RBI, 23 steals and 163 total bases in his final year as a Keydet. He was drafted by the Yankees in the 12th round and also became the first VMI player to earn state Player of the Year honors in any sport. He also set new single-season school record in hits and total bases, while teammate Nathan Eaton – who was drafted in the 21^st round by Kansas City – set a new school record in stolen bases.

Pita was one of Dykes’ student-athletes who earned SoCon Player of the Week awards, as the newest Hoosier assistant saw his hitters earn seven during his time at VMI, to go along with four National Player of the Week honors and a SoCon Player of the Month award. That Player of the Month was DH/1B Collin Fleischer, who became the school’s all-time home run leader during the 2018 season.

In 2017, Tyler Tharp, the senior outfielder who hit just over .200 in 2016, burst on the scene to hit .348 and earn all-SoCon honors, thanks in large part to his 16 homers and 143 total bases, a new school record in that stat. Collin Fleischer finished with 17 homers, the second-most in school history, and moved into third all-time at VMI in that statistic, while the Keydets as a team hit 77 homers, just one off the school record set in 2010.

In 2016, Dykes saw Pita earn Second Team All-State honors, Fleischer post the third-most home runs in school history en route to Second Team All-SoCon laurels and third baseman David Geary finish fourth in the SoCon in doubles. The team hit the second-most home runs in school history (surpassing the previous year's total) and ranked in the top-10 in Division I in that stat for much of the season. Dykes, serving as recruiting coordinator, also brought in the first Perfect Game top-100 recruiting class in school history.

In his first year on Post, Dykes made an impact as star catcher Matt Winn was a Johnny Bench Award finalist, a Third Team All-American and a 14th-round MLB draft selection, while Jordan Tarsovich was also chosen in the MLB draft (22nd round, Dodgers). Both players also earned First Team All-SoCon honors, while outfielder Will Connerley was a Second Team all-conference selection. Despite missing nearly three weeks of action due to weather postponements, the Keydets hit the then second-most home runs in school history (surpassed the following season) and also ranked in the top-10 in program annals in runs batted in.

Dykes came to VMI in 2015, after spending the 2014 season as a volunteer assistant at his alma mater, Western Kentucky. He worked with the outfielders during that time, in addition to heading up team operations, baseball camps and team nutrition, which he also did during the fall of 2013. Dykes saw significant improvement from his outfielders during his lone regular season as a volunteer, as the WKU outfielders went from six assists in 2013 to 15 the following year. All three of the Hilltoppers' regular outfielders hit over .300, with Anderson Miller leading the team with a .336 batting average that helped him earn Second Team All-Sun Belt honors.

During his four-year playing career at WKU, Dykes saw the majority of his time at third base. He finished his four-year stay at WKU as a .284 career hitter, playing in 185 games, including 174 starts. He posted a career .382 slugging percentage and a .373 on-base percentage, while belting 11 home runs and driving in 95 over four years.

Dykes holds a bachelors' degree in sport management from WKU, in addition to a masters' in athletic administration that he completed in 2014. Dykes and his wife, Chaney, have a son, Jett.