Karl Jernigan Named New Tate Aggie Baseball Coach

June 7, 2017

Former Pace High School assistant coach  and Florida State standout Karl Jernigan has been named head baseball coach for the Tate Aggies, replacing the retiring Greg Blackmon.

Jernigan was a four-year starter for the Florida State Seminoles in center field. He recorded career-highs with a .332 batting average and 15 stolen bases in 2000 and was regarded as one of the top defensive center fielders in the country. he was responsible for one of the most memorable victories in FUS history. His three-run homer in the bottom of the 11th inning gave FSU a 14-11 win over Stanford in the 1999 College World Series and a spot in the national title game.

Jernigan was drafted by the Oakland A’s, playing pro ball for three years. He spent the last 12 years as an assistant coach — at Milton for two years and then at Pace for the past 10 years.

Blackmon played on the UWF Baseball team from 1989 to 1990 under head coach Jim Spooner as a top first baseman. He holds the UWF career record for top batting average (.375) and is second in on-base percentage (.461). He is listed as third in slugging percentage (.570) and sixth in homeruns (13). In 1989, Blackmon was named to the All-Tournament team for his performance in the 1989 NAIA College World Series. By 1990, Blackmon held the second best single-season batting average (.472), slugging percentage (.624) and on-base percentage (.543). In 1990, he hit 11 homeruns as a third all-time record in the single season records.

Upon graduating from UWF, Blackmon continued to compete in the game as the head baseball coach at Tate High School in Cantonment, Florida for eight years. He led the high school team to two state championships in 1998 and in 2005 and posted a 202-42 record in eight seasons, leading them to five 6A Final Four appearances. Under his leadership, the Tate High School baseball team was crowned district and regional champions five times, as Blackmon was named the 6A Coach of the Year in 1998 and a six-time District I Florida Athletic Coaches Association Coach of the Year. He later received the Fred Waters Award in 1999 for his exceptional community contributions and devotion to the game of baseball.

Blackmon retired after the 2005 season to seek his master’s degree. He returned to the Aggie program six years later. His last two teams finished one win shy of a return to the state final four.

Comments

4 Responses to “Karl Jernigan Named New Tate Aggie Baseball Coach”

  1. Wade Stanley on December 9th, 2017 10:04 am

    The tate baseball program doesn’t know what a special guy they’ve got on their hands. I was blessed to have this man as a coach for me in High School football, he showed me more compassion than I deserved as well as Grit. I’m fairly sure that he’s the reason we ended our freshman season 9 and 1 with that one loss being the fault of the players. I can only imagine how well he will do holding the reins as the head coach of a baseball program. He deserves it.
    He’s got a gift in his coaching ability, well maybe it’s more than that he’s a great mentor and role model, I’m lucky to say I knew the man. We should all aspire to be more like him, and as it is sometimes , some of those great qualities can be overshadowed. coaches, they can only hope to know what an impact they have on youngsters. Good luck Kj I appreciate everything you did for me. -Ninja

  2. Randy jernigan on June 13th, 2017 9:24 am

    Great hire I can say he has a that ’savy in Baseball and football that’s a gift and is great with young men. gods speed to him and the aggies

  3. Tater on June 8th, 2017 12:57 am

    Jernigan has big shoes to fill. Coach Blackmon will be missed.

  4. Tate Graduate on June 7th, 2017 9:31 pm

    GREAT HIRE!!!!

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News, Sports, TOP sports