Montgomery, Ala. -- Auburn University at Montgomery head coach Marty Lovrich, only the second head coach in the baseball program's history, has announced his retirement after 31 years of service to the university.
 
As the head coach of the Warhawks since the 2015 season, Lovrich collected a 235-197 record at the helm of the program and sports a career record of 320-234. He spent 22 years as an assistant coach at AUM before taking over as head coach in 2014.
 
"I would like to say thank you to all the former and current players who allowed me to be their coach," Lovrich said. "I am so appreciative to Q.V. Lowe and Larry Chapman, who of are incredible mentors and friends and gave me a shot at a young age. I am thankful to all the coaches I have worked with on the baseball field, as well as throughout my career at AUM. The success of this program would not have happened without their support, and I have made some life-long friendships. I appreciate the opportunity to have served the young men who chose to come to AUM and build the baseball program into what it is today."
 
Under his leadership, Lovrich guided the baseball program to the Southern States Athletic Conference regular season and conference tournament championships, as well as back-to-back NAIA National Tournament appearances. He also navigated the Warhawks through the NCAA Division II transition, where he directed the team to a pair of winning seasons. Since earning full D-II membership in 2019, AUM has qualified for two Gulf South Conference Tournaments, had four student-athletes earn All-GSC honors, five CoSIDA Academic All-District selections and one D2CCA All-South Region selection.
 
In his two seasons coaching AUM at the NAIA level, Lovrich developed five All-Southern States Athletic Conference honorees, two SSAC Champions of Character, one SSAC Golden Glove winner, one SSAC All-Freshman recipient and 11 student-athletes earned SSAC All-Academic team distinctions. Four Warhawks earned NAIA Scholar-Athlete accolades with one was named an NAIA Honorable Mention All-American.  

Lovrich enjoyed his best Division II season in 2022, when he led the Warhawks to a 30-21 overall record, including an 18-12 mark in the GSC. AUM secured the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament and was one of just two teams in the league to rank in the top-5 in batting average, earned run average and fielding percentage. During the campaign, Lovrich earned both his 300th career coaching victory and his 200th win with the Warhawks.

In his first two seasons as AUM's head coach, Lovrich guided the program to consecutive 40-win seasons and back-to-back postseason appearances. The Warhawks won both the SSAC regular-season and tournament championship in his inaugural season as head coach and made the program's fourth NAIA World Series appearance in his second season. In 2016, he was selected as ABCA/Diamond Regional Coach of the Year, while he earned SSAC Coach of the Year and Alabama Baseball Coaches Association's Small College Division Coach of the Year in 2015. He also had two student-athletes selected in the MLB First-Year Player Draft.
 
Lovrich spent the 2013 and 2014 seasons as a head coach at Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, Ga. He compiled an 85-37 mark, coached a pair of SSAC All-Conference performers, two SSAC Gold Glove winners and three members of the conference All-Academic team. He coached the 2014 SSAC Newcomer of the Year and had one MLB draft pick.
 
In 2014, SPSU won the conference tournament, won the Daytona Beach National Championship Opening Round tournament, and advanced to the NAIA World Series. Southern Poly finished the season ranked eighth nationally, and Lovrich was selected the American Baseball Coaches Association's NAIA Southeast Regional Coach of the Year.
    
Before joining the staff at SPSU in June of 2012, Lovrich spent 22 seasons on the coaching staff at AUM. He was also a catcher for the team in 1989, where he hit .342 and helped AUM to its first winning season in the program's history. The following year, Lovrich joined the coaching staff as a graduate assistant coach, before being hired as an assistant coach in 1993.
    
During his tenure as an assistant coach at AUM, Lovrich helped the Warhawks to the NAIA World Series three times and coached 34 All-Americans, 76 all-conference honorees, 40 all-region selections and 25 players that went on to play professionally. He was also selected the Alabama Baseball Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year among the state's four-year institutions in 2008. With Lovrich on its coaching staff, AUM has won nearly 63 percent of its games.    
    
"We are appreciative of the more than 30 years of service Coach Lovrich has dedicated to Auburn University at Montgomery and its baseball student-athletes," Director of Athletics Erik Maas said. "He has been an outstanding mentor to hundreds of Senators and Warhawks during his tenure. We are very grateful for his contributions to the baseball program and wish him the very best in the future."
 
A national search will begin shortly for the next head coach of the program.