Gaston College baseball coach reaches career coaching milestone

When Gaston College restarted its athletic program in the fall of 2021, there was no guarantee of future success.

However, the Rhinos' baseball program has defied convention with extraordinary success from the start.

On Saturday, head coach and athletic director Shohn Doty guided the Rhinos guided the program to a doubleheader sweep of Cleveland Community College - and a coaching milestone.

In two full seasons and 10 games into the ongoing 2024 season, Doty has guided the Rhinos to a 100-23 record.

"What I told our players after the game is that this is a reflection of what they have done and what the guys before them have done," Doty said. "I'm really, really proud of how we have set the bar real high and that we want each team to answer the bell every year and rinse and repeat so to speak."

Doty said the credit for the success also belonged to third-year assistant coaches Jacob Rand and K.J. McAllister and first-year assistant coach Kyler Johnston.

"It says a lot about where we are as a program and as a coaching staff," Doty said. "It's not something I think about but it's something I'll cherish."

Doty also credited Gaston College president Dr. John Hauser and the school for their support that began with the program restart.

"I can't say enough about Dr. Hauser and the administration and our staff for getting behind us," Doty said. "It's helped us in so many ways."

Doty becomes only the second coach in Gaston College history to reach that milestone.

When Gaston College had athletics from 1965 to 1972, five-year basketball coach Pete Brooks (109-44 record from 1966 to 1971) was the first to reach 100 victories.

A 1987 graduate of Springdale, Ark., High School, Doty's coaching career began as a graduate assistant in 1993 and 1994 at the nearby University of Arkansas and he later coached at Pratt Community College, Indiana State, UNC-Wilmington, Old Dominion, Arkansas Fort Smith, Charlotte and at a baseball academy in Arkansas before being hired as Gaston College's head baseball coach.

Doty's Gaston College program began play on Feb. 2, 2022 and opened with an 8-3 victory at Caldwell Tech in Lenoir. The Cobras would eventually finish 49-9 overall with a third-place finish in that year's National Junior College Athletic Association Division III World Series.

Gaston College started that inaugural season with 19 straight victories before finishing with a 41-9 record and a Region 10 Division II divisional title that was all the Rhinos could compete for since they were ineligible for national playoff competition as a first-year school.

Along the way, Gaston College earned the first national rankings in school history for any sport and climbed to as high as No. 3 in the national poll (and No. 2 in another poll) before finishing No. 12 overall in the national poll.

Last year as a Region 10 Division I member, the Rhinos started 15-1 with their lone loss to No. 2 Walters State and were in the national polls throughout the season. (Gaston College was ranked as high at No. 10 in the final national poll and as high as No. 4 in another poll during the season.)

By season's end, Gaston College finished second in the Region 10 regular season race, then won the postseason tournament to host the NJCAA East District title at Sims Legion Park.

When the Rhinos won the district title by defeating Region 10 rival and No. 18 Florence-Darlington on the final day, Gaston College qualified for the 2023 NJCAA World Series in Grand Junction, Col.

In the World Series, the Rhinos went 1-2 as they became the first N.C. team to play in the event since 2010 and their victory gave them 50 for the season to become only the eighth team in Region 10 history to reach 50 wins - and third N.C. team to do so (and first since 2008).

Doty's program also increased the school's streak of league titles to six years; Gaston College was N.C. Community College Conference champions each year from 1969 to 1972 before winning a regular season title and a tournament title in its first two years after restarting athletics.

Additionally, the Rhinos have sent more than 30 players to four-year colleges, already has seven signed from this year's team and many more expected later this year.

This season, the Rhinos were ranked No. 14 in the NJCAA preseason poll and has a 9-1 record after Saturday's doubleheader sweep.