Former MLB Pitcher Takes Reins Of BCC Baseball
By Space Coast Daily // July 10, 2012
Succeeds Ernie Rosseau
BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Former major league pitcher Jeff Tam has been formally introduced and is settling in as the new head baseball coach and intramural director for Brevard Community College.
He succeeds longtime Titans coach Ernie Rosseau, who became BCC’s head coach in 1980 and amassed a record of 735 wins, including two state championships and 517 losses.
Tam served as pitching coach and chief assistant coach under Rosseau for one season and then was the Titans’ interim head coach after Rosseau stepped down in March.
His assistant coaches will be Oscar Restrepo and Jose Soto.
BCC Athletic Director Jeff Carr said he welcomes Tam’s appointment.
“I am very excited to have Jeff Tam on board as our new baseball coach and our intramural director,” Carr said. “Jeff is a great teacher of the game. We are fortunate to have him.
Legacy At BCC
“He will carry on the legacy of a great baseball program that Jack Kenworthy and Ernie Rosseau established over their tenures as head coaches,” Carr said. “Jeff Tam has many experiences as a big leaguer that he can share with his players and also has many contacts to help our young men move on as student-athletes to the next level. Jeff is a hard worker and a fantastic person.”
Tam played six seasons in the big leagues, appearing in relief for the New York Mets, Cleveland Indians, Oakland Athletics and Toronto Blue Jays.
He pitched 271.1 innings in 251 games with a won-loss record of 7-14, seven saves and a 3.91 earned run average.
Tam reached the major league after being signed as an undrafted free agent. He pitched college baseball at Florida State University and prep baseball for Eau Gallie High School.
“I’m very excited,” Tam said. “After the short time I was under Coach Rosseau, I feel this is the level where I belong.”
Coaching Style
He said his coaching style will be straight forward.
“I’m very firm but I’m very fair,” he said. “Do what I ask you to do, hustle, be on time. I like to keep a very loose atmosphere but yet if they aren’t doing what they are supposed to be doing I drop the hammer
on them so to speak.
“It’s a state of mind baseball. It’s a very mental game. If they are mentally prepared then you cut them loose and let them play,” Tam said. “All your work gets done in practice. The game is to enjoy and implement what you worked on.”
Fitness also plays a major role, according to Tam.
“I love the weight room,” he said. “I think strength is huge moving through the ranks in the different levels and divisions. Even getting into pro ball it plays a huge part.”
In his other duties, Tam will oversee three new intramural sports starting play this fall at BCC including basketball, volleyball and flag football.
Tam lives in Melbourne with his wife, Monica, and their children, Darian, 11 and Addison, 6.
