James Thomas Foster (born August 18, 1971) is an American baseball coach and former

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

, who was most recently the head coach of

Northwestern Wildcats The Northwestern Wildcats are the athletic teams that represent Northwestern University, located in Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern is a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and the only private university in the conference. Northwestern ...

. He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the

Providence Friars The Providence Friars are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Providence College, located in Providence, Rhode Island. They compete in the Big East Conference (NCAA Division I) for every sport except for ice hockey, where they compet ...

from 1990 to 1993. He served as the head coach of the

Rhode Island Rams The Rhode Island Rams are the athletic programs of the University of Rhode Island, based in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. The Rams compete in the NCAA's Division I as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference. The football team, howeve ...

(2006–2014) and the

Army Black Knights The Army Black Knights are the athletic teams that represent the United States Military Academy, located in West Point, New York. In sports contexts, since 2015, the teams are commonly referred to as Army. The Black Knights compete at the Nation ...

(2017–2022).

Early life and playing career

Born in

Warwick, Rhode Island Warwick ( or ) is a city in Kent County, Rhode Island, the third largest city in the state with a population of 82,823 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is located approximately south of downtown Providence, Rhode Island, sout ...

, Foster attended

Bishop Hendricken High School Bishop Hendricken High School (or Hendricken) is a Catholic, all-male, college preparatory high school located in Warwick, Rhode Island, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence. Founded by the Brothers of the Holy Cross in 1959, and named ...

and

Providence College Providence College is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic university in Providence, Rhode Island. Founded in 1917 by the Dominican Order and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, local diocese, it offers 47 undergradua ...

and played at catcher on the

Providence Friars baseball The Providence Friars are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Providence College, located in Providence, Rhode Island. They compete in the Big East Conference (NCAA Division I) for every sport except for ice hockey, where they compet ...

team under Paul Kostacopoulos, where he was named MVP of the 1992 Big East Conference baseball tournament. As a senior in 1993, Foster had the Friars' best batting average at .386, in addition to 61 hits, 38 RBI, and seven homers. Selected by the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

in the 22nd round of the

1993 MLB draft The 1993 Major League Baseball draft began with first round selections on June 3, 1993. Alex Rodriguez was selected first overall by the Seattle Mariners. Other notable draftees included Chris Carpenter, Torii Hunter, Jason Varitek, Scott Rolen, ...

, Foster played for the Orioles organization from 1993 to 1999, starting with the

Bluefield Orioles Bluefield may refer to: *Bluefield, Virginia, US *Bluefield, West Virginia, US *Nvidia BlueField, a line of computer hardware See also *Bluefields Bluefields is the capital of the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, South Caribbean Autonomo ...

. In 1999 and 2000, Foster also played for the

Anaheim Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The f ...

, and

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

organizations. He ended his professional baseball career with the

Birmingham Barons The Birmingham Barons are a Minor League Baseball team based in Birmingham, Alabama. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox and plays at Regions Field in downtown Birmingham. The current ...

and

Charlotte Knights The Charlotte Knights are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. They are located in Charlotte, North Carolina, and play their home games at Truist Field, which opened in 20 ...

in 2000. Foster was a

Topps The Topps Company, Inc. is an American company that manufactures chewing gum, candy, and collectibles. Formerly based in New York City, Topps is best known as a leading producer of American Football Card, American football, Baseball card, baseb ...

All-Rookie honoree in 1993 and ''

Baseball Weekly ''USA Today Sports Weekly'' is an American sports newsmagazine owned by the Gannett Company. A spin-off publication to Gannett's flagship newspaper ''USA Today'', it focuses on coverage of baseball news from Major League Baseball (MLB), Minor Le ...

'' Minor League Catcher of the Year in 1997.

Coaching career

In 2004 and 2005, Foster was an assistant coach at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

. Foster served as head baseball coach at the

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Island ...

from 2006 to 2014, compiling a record of 268–230–3. The 2006 and 2013 Rhode Island teams won

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...

regular season titles. Following a 13–40 season, Foster resigned on July 17, 2014, with three years remaining on his contract to accept the associate head coach job with

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

. Foster served as associate head coach at Boston College in 2015 and 2016 under

Mike Gambino Michael L. Gambino (born July 9, 1977) is an American baseball coach and former infielder, who is the current head baseball coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions. Prior to accepting the head coaching position at Penn State, he served as an assi ...

. Foster was named head baseball coach at the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

on June 23, 2016. After a 25–31 season in 2017, Army won both the

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate athletic conference comprising private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United States. Outside the Ivy League, it is among the most selective gr ...

regular season and tournament titles in 2018 and qualified for the NCAA tournament. In the NCAA tournament, Army went 1–2 in the regional round, including a 5–1 upset of regional host and nationally ranked

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The university ...

on opening day. On June 28, 2022, Foster was named the head baseball coach of the

. On July 13, 2023, Foster was fired after an investigation by the university human resources department revealed “bullying and a toxic environment within the program".

Head coaching record

References

External links

Army profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Jim 1971 births Living people Albany Polecats players American expatriate baseball players in Canada Army Black Knights baseball coaches Baseball catchers Baseball outfielders Baseball coaches from Rhode Island Baseball players from Rhode Island Birmingham Barons players Bluefield Orioles players Boston College Eagles baseball coaches Bowie Baysox players Brown Bears baseball coaches Charlotte Knights players Edmonton Trappers players Erie SeaWolves players Frederick Keys players Northwestern Wildcats baseball coaches Providence Friars baseball players Rochester Red Wings players Rhode Island Rams baseball coaches Sportspeople from Warwick, Rhode Island Tucson Sidewinders players Bishop Hendricken High School alumni