Franklin Bush enters his second season leading the AUM baseball program after a record-filled first year as the Warhawk skipper.
Bush, the 2024 Gulf South Conference Coach of the Year, led the Warhawks to an NCAA Division II-era record 32 wins, which included a record-setting number of conference wins (20) for the orange and black.
Under Bush’s leadership, AUM punched its first-ever ticket to the NCAA South Regional tournament as the No. 5 seed in the NCAA South Region I bracket. An at-large selection for postseason play, the Warhawks secured the program’s first South Regional victory with a 9-8 win over Savannah State in a 10-inning thriller.
AUM also earned the school’s first win in the GSC tournament since joining the NCAA Division II ranks as a full-time member ahead of the 2019-2020 academic year. The Warhawks erased a two-run deficit in the sixth with four unanswered runs to score an 8-6 win over Shorter University.
The Warhawks soared to the team’s highest win total (15) at home since the 2022 campaign and turned in the first winning record (15-12) away from Q.V. Lowe Field since 2019.
AUM went 32-24 overall on the year and 20-10 in conference play, including seven wins over teams ranked or receiving votes in a national poll. The Warhawks won eight of their 10 series in league action, including series wins at Valdosta State, at Shorter, and against West Florida. AUM also secured a non-conference series win against Embry-Riddle and wins over Georgia Southwestern (twice), Alabama-Huntsville, and Columbus State away from league action.
The 2024 campaign saw AUM ranked or receive votes in the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association (NCBWA) South Region Poll for 13 straight weeks. The Warhawks also garnered national recognition in the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Top 30 poll by being ranked or receiving votes for seven consecutive weeks, including the program's highest-ever ranking (No. 21) in the April 22 release of the poll.
AUM put three players on All-GSC teams (Zach Dew - First Team, Cooper Doughman - Second Team, and Ryan Slaten - Second Team), which tied for the most total selections as a member of the GSC, and Dew earned the program's second All-South Region nod (NCBWA, Second Team).
Bush became just the third head coach in the AUM baseball program's 38-year history when Director of Athletics Erik Maas announced his hiring on June 28, 2023, building on the foundation laid by Q.V. Lowe, who won more than 1,000 games from 1987 to 2014, and Marty Lovrich, who coached the Warhawks to 235 wins from 2015 to 2023.
Bush came to the capital city after spending the past six seasons at fellow Gulf South Conference institution the University of Montevallo, finishing his tenure with the Falcons as the Associate Head Coach and Recruiting Coordinator.
"Montgomery is where it all started for me," said Bush. "To come home and serve as the head baseball coach [for Auburn University at Montgomery] is an absolute dream for me and my family. We are grateful to Chancellor Carl Stockton, Erik Maas, and the search committee for this opportunity. We look forward to working every day to build on the success of this baseball program and athletics department."
Bush, a Montgomery, Alabama native, helped lead the University of Montevallo to second and third-place finishes in the GSC regular season in 2023 and 2022, respectively, and a 75-31 overall record in that span, including an appearance in the NCAA South Region tournament in 2023.
Under his tutelage, the program produced two GSC Players of the Year, a National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Player of the Year, six All-American selections, seven First Team All-GSC selections, five Second Team All-GSC selections, two College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-Americans, five CSC Academic All-District Honorees, three GSC All-Academic Team selections, and 50 Honor Roll recipients. Bush was also selected as the Alabama Baseball Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year in 2022.
The baseball program found success both on and off the field with Bush helping lead the way, particularly in the classroom, as the program maintained a 3.0 cumulative GPA in each semester of his tenure at Montevallo.
Bush served on a coaching staff that led the Falcons to a pair of NCAA South Region tournaments (2018 & 2023) and two nationally-ranked recruiting classes. The Falcons' 2019 recruiting class was ranked fourth nationally, and the squad's 2023 recruiting class was ranked 18th nationally. The program also produced a 19th-round pick in the MLB Draft in 2019, the second-highest draft pick in program history.
Bush has made numerous coaching stops in his distinguished young career, which began at Blackburn College as a baseball student-athlete and an assistant to the Director of Athletics. From there, Bush served a one-year Olympic Sports Recruiting internship in the Auburn University athletic department before moving to the Midwest to serve as the associate head baseball coach at Central Springs High School in Manly, Iowa.
Bush then returned to his alma mater to serve as the Assistant Baseball Coach at Blackburn College before taking a Volunteer Assistant Coach position on the baseball staff at the University at Buffalo in Buffalo, New York before being hired at the University of Montevallo.
He also has held three different summer ball coaching positions in his career. Bush began as an assistant coach for the Wellsville Nitros in the New York Collegiate Baseball League in 2016 before taking the head coach position for the Newark Pilots of the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League in 2017. Bush then served as head coach of the Madisonville Miners of the Ohio Valley League in Madisonville, Kentucky.
Bush holds a master's degree in Adult Education from Auburn University and a bachelor's degree in Sports Management from Blackburn College in Carlinville, Illinois.
