UT Martin Baseball Announces New Staff Additions For 2025 Season

Dupont enters his first season as an assistant coach at UT Martin after decades of work with the Holmes Community College baseball program.

On the Diamond Dogs coaching staff, Dupont was in charge of pitchers, hitting and recruiting. In his first season, he helped lead the Dogs to their first playoff trip to the NJCAA Region 23 Championship Tournament. In his first four seasons as an assistant coach, the Dogs had a winning campaign and punched their ticket twice to the NJCAA Region 23 Championship Tournament. A total of 20 players went on to play for four-year universities and two were in the Major League Baseball Draft under his mentorship.

With Dupont as head coach, the Dogs recorded 17 straight winning seasons, made seven trips to the NJCAA Region 23 Championship Tournament and qualified for the MACJC State Championship Tournament seven times. Following the conclusion of the 2001 season, Holmes was ranked 20th in the NJCAA national baseball poll, boasting a 34-11 record. The next season, the Dogs went 34-15 and were ranked 18th in the final polls of the season. Under Dupont, 133 players went on to play at four-year universities and 27 were drafted or signed to play professional baseball.

In 1996-97, Dupont coached former three-time MLB All-Star and 2000 Olympic gold medalist Roy Oswalt, a member of the Houston Astros Hall of Fame after finishing his career as the 2005 NLCS MVP, NL wins leader in 2004 and NL ERA leader in 2006. Oswalt played 13 years in the major leagues with the Astros, Philadelphia Phillies, Texas Rangers and Colorado Rockies.

Before joining Holmes, Dupont was an assistant coach at George C. Wallace Junior College in Dothan, Ala. under Sammy Frichter. After that, he was an assistant under Mike Knight at Nicholls State in Thibodaux, La.

Dupont served as a scout for the Baltimore Orioles from 1992-2010 and also conducted tryout camps.

Dupont holds a career record of 557-268. In total, he led the Bulldogs to nine appearances in the MACJC State Tournament and eight appearances in the Region XXIII Tournament.

Dupont is originally from St. Bernard, La. and graduated from Troy in 1988. He and his wife Christa have four children, Brita, Dixon, Tyler and Trent.

Martin enters his first season as a volunteer assistant for UT Martin. He comes to the Skyhawks after serving as an assistant coach at the Xavier University of Louisiana baseball program and was responsible for recruiting while developing position players and managing hitting duties.

Prior to his time at Xavier University of Louisiana, Martin was the head coach for LA-10 12U Travel Baseball Team where he was responsible for recruiting and developing a roster to compete in Perfect Game tournaments. Under his command, the team was the Baseball USA Perfect Game runner-up and GSSA World Series runner-up in 2021.

Martin played collegiate baseball at Central Alabama Community College in Alexander City, Ala. where he was a first team All-American, 2013 Alabama Baseball Coaches Association Player of the Year and national champion.

Martin is originally from New Orleans, La. and graduated from Capella University in 2024. He has two children, Grayson and Addison.

Rice enters his first season as a graduate assistant for his alma mater. He was a member of the team the past two seasons where UT Martin made school history with back-to-back postseason appearances and finished third in the OVC standings in 2023.

In his playing career, Rice batted .309 with 17 home runs, 120 hits and 51 RBIs. The speedy outfielder stole 28 bases while slugging .534 and held an on-base percentage of .378. He played in 102 games during his time as a Skyhawk, making 101 starts after transferring from Chipola College, located in Marianna, Fla. He prepped at Russell County High School under coach Tony Rasmus where he was the second ranked outfielder and 12th overall prospect in the state of Alabama by Perfect Game.

Hailing from Fort Mitchell, Ala., Rice graduated from UT Martin in 2024 with a degree in business and will now be pursuing a master’s degree.