The Wilson Hot Stove Banquet will hold its 37th annual event on Monday, Jan. 23. The banquet, which will be held at Recreation Park Community Center, will feature four college baseball head coaches as speakers. Set to speak will be North Carolina’s Mike Fox, East Carolina’s Billy Godwin, Mount Olive’s Carl Lancaster and Barton’s Joshua Simmons.
Tickets for the banquet are $25 each and proceeds will benefit the N.C. Baseball Museum.
Fox, who will begin his 13th season as Tar Heels' head coach, will speak about a typical day at the College World Series, where he has had plenty of experience. Fox has either played or coached in all 14 of UNC’s CWS wins. Fox also spent 15 years as head baseball coach at N.C. Wesleyan where he led the Battling Bishops to the 1989 NCAA Division III national championship.
Godwin, an Atlantic Christian (now Barton) College and Northern Nash graduate entering his seventh season at the Pirates' helm, will discuss the gamut of NCAA regulations, “the good, the bad and the ugly,” Ferrell described.
Lancaster, who led the Trojans to the NCAA Division II national championship in 2008, will talk about recruiting, especially in-state players, and the affects of the MLB Draft on it.
Simmons was named as the replacement for longtime Bulldogs head coach Todd Wilkinson in May. The former Barton assistant will describe the transition he’s making from six years beside Wilkinson to running the program.