During the summer of 2024, Longwood University signed the fifth-ever head coach of Longwood Baseball, Ray Noe. Noe came from Virginia Military Institute (VMI), where he rose from assistant to lead assistant and recruiting coordinator before taking the role at Longwood.
Noe replaced former head coach Chad Oxendine, who left to coach at Coastal Carolina University last June. As of publication, Noe’s Lancers are 11-37 overall, with a 5-16 Big South Conference record with 4 games still to play.
Noe said his decision to come to Longwood was rooted in his first visit to campus with Director of Athletics Tim Hall. “I got on campus and saw Longwood, because [I'd] never been here before, and I got a chance to meet some of the other coaches and talk to the administration, and just the support for athletics,” Noe said.
“I'm 36, so getting a chance to become a head coach… it's always been a dream of mine, he added.
As far as his coaching style, Noe said, “For us, it's all about individual player development.”
“I think team success is a byproduct of getting each person to understand what their role is, what they're good at, and how we can have them be successful,” Noe said. “Once you get individuals to understand that, it trickles to the whole team… they're rooting for a common goal of winning, not only as a team, but also as an individual.”
2024-25 is Noe’s first season with the Lancers, providing a unique challenge to the new coach. He said his first few months were all about connecting and building trust with the players. Noe said his biggest challenge at the beginning of his tenure was “getting to know the guys,” and added, “I didn't know anyone. I didn't recruit any of these guys… and you don't really know what you have, so the Fall is all about building relationships for us and getting to know them.”
Since then, Noe said he has built a strong relationship with the team. “I love the group. I think they're great. They never stop fighting. They compete really hard… their fight and their willingness to buy into our systems… and change their mindsets a little bit in terms of being more focused on the process rather than the outcome, that's probably what I'm most proud of,” he said.
Already far into the season, Noe highlighted some good moments thus far, although they have not yet played all of their Big South opponents. “We’ve had some really cool moments, like beating Boston College earlier this year, and sweeping Asheville on the road,” he said.
That said, Noe isn’t focused on the past. He said, “We talk about it like a car, like a windshield. It's the beauty of stuff ahead, but that rearview mirror is something that we'll still kind of reflect on, but it's not going to be our main focus.”
Noe has confidence in Longwood’s ability to compete both in the short and long term.
He said, “Our expectation is to be competing for [the Big South Championship] every single year. How we're going to do it — we're going to bring in the right players that fit our system, going to continue to coach and teach and love on our kids, and at the end of the day, I think relationships win, so continuing to build those and just continue to get better every single day with the guys in the group that we have, and that's what we expect to do.”
