NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Head coach Tim Corbin announced Wednesday the addition of assistant coaches Jayson King and Ty Blankmeyer.
“With myself and [associate head coach] Scott Brown having past association with both guys, it feels like we are bringing on family members who have been part of our program for quite some time. They both understand Vanderbilt, but most importantly, value the opportunity to be teaching here,” Corbin said.
King comes to Vanderbilt after seven seasons as head coach at Dayton. King has 27 years of head coaching experience with 840 career victories including 165 with the Flyers. Prior to Dayton, King was the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at Army for the 2017 season after spending the previous 18 seasons as head coach at NCAA Division II Franklin Pierce.
At Franklin Pierce, he led the Ravens to 10 NE-10 Conference championships, seven NCAA Northeast Regional appearances, and seven trips to the NCAA Division II College World Series. King earned the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Northeast Region Coach of the Year honor on seven occasions, most recently in 2016. He was also selected the Division II Coach of the Year by the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) seven times.
A 1993 graduate of Framingham State (Mass.) College, King received a bachelor’s degree in sociology while playing four seasons for the Rams. He went on to earn his master’s degree in physical education in 1996 from Springfield (Mass.) College.
In July 2023, King had 2023 ace Mark Manfredi selected in the ninth round of the MLB Draft by the Milwaukee Brewers, marking the highest pick in program history. Two others, Riley Tirotta and Mariano Ricciardi, were selected in 2021 under King’s tutelage, becoming the first FlyBoys drafted since 2012, and the first time a pair of Flyers were picked since 2010.
The 2021 season saw the Flyers hit 69 home runs, the third-most in a season in program history and strike out 436 opposing hitters, the second-highest total from a Dayton team.
In 2019, the Flyers went 32-26-1 and advanced to the championship game of the Atlantic 10 Tournament. The team’s 32 wins were also the program’s most since the 2011 season. Dayton also set the program record with 491 strikeouts by Flyer pitchers.
Dayton saw its conference winning percentage improve by 30 percent from the 2017 and 2018 combined seasons to the 2019 and 2021 seasons, the sixth-highest increase of any school in Division I.
His first full recruiting class at Dayton was ranked in the top 100 in the nation by Perfect Game and No. 2 in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
Corbin on King: “Jayson is someone who I have known and respected for many years. He brings 27 years of head coaching experience, but it goes well beyond that. He simply gets the best out of every situation that he’s in, regardless of the resources. He’s tough, relentless, he has winning fibers and a teacher’s heart. Kids love playing for him and with him. There isn’t a coaching road that Jayson hasn’t traveled. His admiration for our program and wanting to coach here, was certainly humbling to me.”
Blankmeyer comes to Nashville after two seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Duke. Prior to Duke, Blankmeyer spent one season on the staff at Wake Forest.
In 2024, under Blankmeyer’s guidance, the Blue Devils set a new program high with a .980 fielding percentage. Duke won its second ACC Tournament championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, while not recording an error in all four games. On the offensive side, Duke broke the home run record after blasting 116 on the season and shattered the program record for runs scored with 501.
In his one year on the staff at Wake Forest as a volunteer assistant coach, Blankmeyer was instrumental in the team’s base running and fielding improvements. Wake finished sixth in the ACC with a .973 fielding percentage, eight spots higher than the Demon Deacons’ finish the year prior.
A native of Morristown, New Jersey, he enjoyed an impressive career at St. John’s from 2012-16 where he helped lead the program to the Big East regular-season and tournament titles in 2015 under his father, Ed – the winningest coach in St. John’s history with 829 victories.
His grandfather, Mike Sheppard Sr., was a legendary baseball coach at Seton Hall, winning 998 games, making 10 NCAA Tournament appearances and two College World Series runs.
Blankmeyer was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the 2016 MLB Draft and hit .280 in the Pioneer League before stepping into a player development role with the franchise at the Arizona Complex League (AZL), working alongside Jose Nieves and Barry Larkin. From there, he moved to the Milwaukee Brewers where he managed all scouting responsibilities in the Northeast region for five seasons.
Corbin on Blankmeyer: “I knew Ty was going to be a college coach at 12 years old, when he would go recruiting with his dad. When he played at St. John’s, I would call him to get a scouting report on the other team…that’s how much I trusted him. For a young guy, Ty comes with a great deal of evaluation and teaching experience. He’s gone from MLB scout to major college assistant in a short amount of time. He has a magnetic personality that kids attach themselves too.”
