MEMPHIS, Tenn. — For almost two decades, Daron Schoenrock has manned the top step of the Tigers dugout, but after this upcoming season, he will step down.
"I feel like every coaching or playing career has a shelf life, just like food in the grocery store," he told ABC 24. "I felt like my shelf life here as the head coach at the University of Memphis needed to come to a close."
Schoenrock will retire after the 2022 campaign, the final chapter in what will be a 37-year career coaching collegiate baseball. After serving as pitching coach at Kentucky, Georgia, and Mississippi State, Schoenrock was hired as head coach at Memphis in 2004. He has been here ever since.
"You don't really think about 'Hey, I'm going to do this at Memphis for 18 years,'" he said. "You just kind of put the blinders on, start working, start recruiting and start stacking up the seasons. But then when you look back on it, you think 'Wow, this really has become home.'"
He has won 437 games in his time at Memphis and led the Tigers to an NCAA Regional berth in 2007. But he is most proud of the over 190 players he has coached alongside 32 different staff members over these 18 years.
"The stat that you keep is the number of relationships," he said. "It doesn't show up in wins or losses. It shows up in daily phone calls, texts and emails. Those are the things I really enjoy."
"He carries a legacy here," senior infielder Ben Brooks said. "It's not just that he coached, now he's done. I think coach Rock will be remembered here for a long time. Especially after we're gone and well after that."
That legacy isn't done yet. Schoenrock has high hopes for this year's senior-heavy squad. And for this final go-around, he plans to appreciate the little moments, like meeting his fellow coaches at home plate before first pitch.
"They're all going to say 'What are you going to do?' And I have no idea," he said. "I'm going to do something. We've got time to figure it out. In the meantime, I am going to cherish those moments."