Chad Caillet begins his second season as an assistant coach on Wes Thigpen's staff after a pair of recent stops in the Southeastern Conference.
Caillet (pronounced ki-YAY) spent the 2022 season at the University of South Carolina as an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator and the prior two years at Texas A&M coordinating the offensive game, mentoring the infielders and serving as third base coach.
With South Carolina, Caillet helped Brandt Belk earn All-SEC second team honors, while shortstop Michael Braswell was named to the SEC All-Freshman team. Caillet also helped a Gamecock defense that had a .974 fielding percentage. At Texas A&M in 2021, their recruiting class was ranked No. 11 in the country by Perfect Game.
Calliet spent 12 seasons on the staff at the University of Southern Mississippi, the last three of those as the associate head coach. He served as the Golden Eagles’ recruiting coordinator as well as working with the team’s offense and infield defense.
During Caillet’s time in Hattiesburg, the Golden Eagles made the College World Series in 2009, finished in the Top 25 on three occasions and made eight NCAA Regional appearances.
The last four years, the Golden Eagles led Conference USA in most offensive categories. Southern Miss was one of five NCAA Division I programs to register 40 win seasons in each of the last four seasons. The 2017 squad racked up 50 wins for the only time in school history as Caillet earned Conference USA Assistant Coach of the Year. The team combined for a school-record 94 wins in 2017 and 2018.
With Caillet in charge of the offense, Southern Miss re-wrote the school record books, setting single-season team marks for runs, RBI, batting average and on-base percentage, among others. He also made a mark on the Golden Eagles’ defense. The team led the nation in double plays for three consecutive seasons from 2009-11. The team also paced the country in double plays per game in 2010, ’11 and ’13.
Caillet is nationally recognized for his recruiting efforts. In November 2016, D1Baseball.com named him Conference USA’s top recruiting coordinator. In his first year as recruiting coordinator in 2009, he landed the No. 23 class in the nation. He followed it up with a No. 21 class in 2010. In 2012, he helped Southern Miss pull in a class ranked third by Baseball America and 13th by Collegiate Baseball.
All-American Matt Wallner became Southern Miss’ highest-ever selection in the MLB Draft, picked by the Minnesota Twins with the No. 39 overall pick. The Golden Eagles have had nine players selected in the first 10 rounds during his 12 seasons. In addition to Wallner in the first round, Sandlin was picked in the second round (2018) and B.A. Hellmuth was selected in the third round (2011). Three players Caillet recruited earned the Boo Ferris Award, given annually to the top collegiate player in the state of Mississippi, including Tyler Koelling (2011), McMahon (2015) and Sandlin (2018).
In his first NCAA Division I stint, Caillet served as an assistant coach at Southeastern Louisiana University for the 2006-07 seasons. SLU’s 2006 and 2007 signing classes ranked in the Top 50 nationally. The 2006 Lions set a school record for Southland Conference victories. Caillet briefly served on the coaching staff at McNeese State University in July-August 2007 before taking the assistant coach position at Southern Miss.
Caillet served one year as head coach at Meridian Community College in 2005. During his lone season at the helm, the Eagles sported a 44-14 record, including a spotless home mark and won the league. The Eagles earned a top 10 national junior college ranking and Caillet was tabbed the MACJC Coach of the Year.
Prior to his season as the skipper, Caillet spent three seasons as an assistant coach at MCC from 2002-04. He helped the Eagles win two Region 23 championships and make consecutive Junior College World Series appearances in 2003 and 2004. They finished ranked in the top 10 nationally both seasons.
Caillet also had one-year coaching stops at Mississippi College (2001), Millsaps College (2000) and Copiah-Lincoln (1999). He spent two summers in the Cotton States League, including one year as manager for the Meridian Marauders, which won its first league title.
Caillet played two years collegiately at Copiah-Lincoln before finishing his career at Southern Miss. He earned his bachelor’s degree (1998) and master’s degree (2000) from Southern Miss.
He's married to the former Jessica Compretta and they have a daughter, Carsyn, and a son, Coby.
