John Jarnagin enters his third season as head coach of the University of Montevallo baseball program.

Jarnagin, who had served as head coach of the baseball team at Morehead State University in Kentucky from 1996-2007, became the sixth head coach of the nationally recognized Falcon program in 2008. A five-time "Coach-of-the-Year" award winner, Jarnagin brings more than 20 years of coaching experience to the Falcons.

His MSU teams captured numerous honors in Ohio Valley Conference competitions for achievements on the field and in the classroom. His teams also set national marks in home runs, team batting and team scoring. In 2007, his team led the OVC and was ranked among the top NCAA Division I teams in the nation in stolen bases. In his final two seasons, the Morehead Eagles had the highest team grade-point average of all OVC baseball teams, helping Morehead State win the conference's Institutional Academic Achievement Award. Jarnagin has coached eight players that were selected for the Major League draft. In addition, his team earned the first community-service award at MSU in recognition of outstanding leadership in projects that ranged from blood drives to bell ringing for the Salvation Army.

Before joining the Morehead State coaching ranks, Jarnagin was head baseball coach at Shelby State Community College in Memphis, Tenn., from 1986-1995. For his work there, he was inducted into the Southwest Tennessee Community College (formerly Shelby State CC) Hall of Fame in 2004 as the winningest baseball coach. In 1992, h was named co-coach of the year of the Tennessee Junior and Community College Athletic Association. He received four other coach-of-the-year honors during his time at the helm of the Shelby State CC program.

Jarnagin's first coaching job was a three-year stint as an assistant at Middle Tennessee State University. From there, he went to Trevecca Nazarene College in Nashville for one season before beginning his decade of service at Shelby State.

A native of San Diego, Calif., Jarnagin played for one season at San Diego Mesa Community College, before moving on to Liberty University, where he was a two-year letter winner. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in health and physical education in 1981. He later earned his master's degree in physical education, recreation and safety from Middle Tennessee State University.

Active in the American Baseball Coaches' Association, Jarnagin also taught in the physical education departments at both Shelby State CC and at Morehead State.

Along with his wife, Donna Lynn and two children, Sarah Beth and Micah, the family resides in Pelham.