Staff Directory

Luke Howard

Title:
Assistant Coach

Luke Howard joins the Murray State baseball staff as an assistant coach ahead of the 2026-27 season, returning to the program where he served as an assistant in 2008. Howard arrives in Murray after eight seasons as head coach at Ouachita Baptist University, where he compiled a 194-179 record guided the Tigers to two NCAA Division II Tournament appearances and led the program to its most successful stretch in more than a decade.

Howard took over at Ouachita in June 2018 and spent his first three seasons recruiting and rebuilding the roster, a process that produced immediate progress. His first team posted the program's first 20-win season since 2015, and his 2021 club closed the year on a 13-4 run over its final 17 games to build momentum heading into 2022. That season, the Tigers went 33-24 overall and 20-13 in Great American Conference play, reached the semifinals of the GAC Championship Tournament and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament, where they upset top-seeded host Central Missouri, 5-4, in the first round.

Howard's 2023 team built on that breakthrough with a 37-19 record and a 23-10 mark in league play, finishing as the GAC regular-season runner-up, one game out of first place. Ouachita defeated Harding in the opening round of the conference tournament and again earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers followed with a third straight winning season in 2024 at 28-23 overall and 19-14 in the GAC, securing another spot in the conference tournament, and posted a fourth consecutive winning conference record in 2025 with a 20-13 league finish, three games off the lead.

Howard's players collected 29 All-GAC selections, six all-region honors and two All-America honors during his tenure. G. Allen earned All-America recognition both on the field and in the classroom in 2023, and Dustin Bermudez was named an All-American as a two-way player in 2024. Howard also coached 2022 GAC Freshman of the Year Wyatt Core and 2024 GAC Newcomer of the Year Chase Oberle, an All-GAC First Team pitcher who led the league and ranked sixth nationally with a 2.23 ERA. Four-time All-GAC pitcher Cooper Timmons set the Ouachita career strikeout record with 349 under Howard and tied the program's career wins record with 26.

Howard's return to Ouachita in 2018 marked his second stint with the Tigers, having served as an assistant coach in Arkadelphia from 2009-11. In between, he spent seven seasons at King University in Bristol, Tennessee, beginning as an assistant coach in 2012 and 2013 before serving as associate head coach from 2014-18. Howard began his coaching career as an assistant at Cincinnati in 2007 before joining the Murray State staff in 2008.

Howard began his playing career at Purdue before transferring to Ohio University, where he finished his career and earned a bachelor's degree in sociology and marketing in 2006. He completed a master's degree in organizational leadership from Fort Hays State in 2012. Howard and his wife, Annie, have two sons, Drew and Will.