COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – Texas A&M hitting coach Caleb Longley has resigned from his position with the program, head coach Michael Earley confirmed Monday.
According to a report by D1Baseball.com’s Kendall Rogers, Longley was involved in a dispute with the university over his business, MARV Training. The resignation comes approximately a month before A&M’s season-opening series against Tennessee Tech.
To Earley’s knowledge, Longley mulled over the decision for a few days, the head coach said.
“He just made a decision to fully focus on his business and we wish him nothing but the best,” Earley said Monday, the opening day of A&M’s spring practice. “He worked his tail off here and was awesome and I’ll still continue to be close with him. He’s a good dude.”
Longley served in the position for one season, after spending three seasons in the same role at Texas. Last season, the Aggies ranked 254th in batting average (.260), 221st in hits (470), 183rd in on-base percentage (.377) and 79th in slugging percentage (.473). The Aggies missed out on the NCAA Tournament with a 30-26 record and an 11-19 Southeastern Conference record in Earley’s first year as head coach.
MARV Training makes baseball training equipment, such as rubber pitching machine balls.
Attempts to reach Longley and A&M athletic director Trev Alberts Monday went unanswered by the time this report was published.
Former Aggie catcher Troy Claunch, who now serves as the Aggies’ director of hitting and catching development, will take a more prominent role with the hitters, Earley said. Claunch was graduate assistant with A&M in 2025, his first season in coaching. Claunch received interest for coaching positions from other Division I programs and professional baseball over the offseason, Earley said.
“Troy, I think, is a stud,” Earley said. “He’s a superstar coach in the making. He’s someone, honestly, that probably won’t be here very long, at some point, because when you have younger coaches like that — he has shown the ability and aptitude to learn and being an awesome dude and I just trust what he does.”
Earley also mentioned not wanting to bring in a new on-field coach so close to the beginning of the season. A&M also added assistant coach Cliff Pennington in June, who has offensive coaching experience at his last stop, Dallas Baptist.
“Troy’s great,” A&M infielder Gavin Grahovac said. “He’s a player’s coach. He’s fresh out of playing, obviously, and just the way he’s able to relate to all of us and, kind of, give us those little inside point of views. It’s been phenomenal.”
Since the fall, Earley has retaken a greater role in A&M’s hitting development, he said Monday. He came to A&M as a hitting coach under former Aggie head coach Jim Schlossnagle and was a piece of A&M’s trips to the College World Series in 2022 and 2024.
Grahovac said Earley’s return to day-to-day hitting instruction has been noticeable through the offseason.
He’s been around a lot more, especially on the mechanical side of things, just paying a lot of attention,” Grahovac said. “Not saying he didn’t [last year]… He’s back in his old groove, I would say.”
Aggies add strength and conditioning coachNate Friedman was announced as A&M baseball’s new strength and conditioning coach Monday, according to a release from the program. Friedman has served as the Arizona Diamondbacks’ minor league strength and conditioning coach since 2018, including the last two years as the organization’s minor league rehab strength and conditioning coordinator. “We conducted an extensive search with a strong focus on identifying the best strength and conditioning coaches in professional baseball, and Nate’s name continued to surface at the highest levels of Major League Baseball,” Earley said in a statement. “What separated Nate was his elite ability to communicate and connect with players, along with his understanding of how to build strength while prioritizing durability and injury prevention. Most importantly, Nate aligned with the standards and culture of Texas A&M and had a genuine desire to be a part of this program and the daily work required to compete at the highest level.”
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