Josh Hoffpauir

Position: Assistant Coach

Josh Hoffpauir is in his second year as the volunteer assistant coach for the Southern Miss baseball program. After playing five years of professional baseball, Hoffpauir, a former Golden Eagle infielder, returned to his alma mater in 2004. He works with the infielders, coaches base running and assists with hitting, while also serving as the first base coach and the coordinator of the Southern Miss Baseball camps.

Last season, the Golden Eagles posted a .966 fielding percentage, the third-best in the school's history. All-Conference USA first baseman Marc Maddox registered a .987 fielding percentage, committing only eight errors in 427 chances. Southern Miss also stole 58 bases last year, almost as many as they stole in both 2003 and 2004 combined.

Hoffpauir started his professional career in the Oakland A's organization in June 2000. He played in the Arizona League that fall, was named the Arizona A's Most Valuable Player and was selected to play in the all-star game. He signed a free agent contract with Baltimore in 2002 and advanced to the triple AAA level by the 2003 season. He signed a free agent contract with Seattle in 2004, where he played for Tacoma (AAA) Rainiers in the Pacific Coast League, before playing in Texas Rangers' system in 2004.

A Second-Team All-Conference USA selection in 2000, Hoffpauir batted .333 with 12 doubles, one triple, eight home runs, drove in 35 runs and had a .400 on-base percentage. He stole a team-high 18 bases that year, including a school-record six against Cincinnati. He played for Northwestern (La.) State his first three years and was third on the career triples list with nine. He was named the Southland Conference Newcomer of the Year as a freshman and earned All-Southland Conference honors as well.

Hoffpauir, a 2001 Southern Miss graduate with a degree in coaching and sport administration, is the son of Johnny and Pam Hoffpauir of Vidalia, La., and the brother of former Golden Eagle All-American Jarrett, who finished his career at Southern Miss in 2004 and is playing professional baseball in the St. Louis Cardinals organization.

He married the former Khara Maddix, in January 2005, who is a 2002 graduate of Southern Miss with a degree in broadcast journalism. Maddix was a two-year letterwinner on the soccer team at Southern Miss and now serves as a sports reporter/anchor at WDAM-TV in Hattiesburg. He is currently working on his master's degree in coaching and sport administration at Southern Miss.