The Nashville Sounds Minor League Baseball team has played in Nashville, Tennessee, since being established in 1978 as an expansion team of the Southern League. They moved up to Triple-A in 1985 as members of the American Association before joining the Pacific Coast League in 1998. With the restructuring of the minor leagues in 2021, they were placed in the Triple-A East, which became the International League in 2022. In the 2026 season, the Sounds' coaching staff was led by manager Rick Sweet and included Eric Bunnell, Tim Doherty (hitting), Zack Jones (hitting), Bryan Leslie (pitching), Tyler Thornburg (pitching), and David Tufo (bench).

Seven former Sounds players later served as coaches for the team. Wayne Garland of the 1982 starting rotation returned as pitching coach from 1987 to 1988. Don Cooper, a relief pitcher in 1980, coached the pitching staff from 1994 to 1996. Steve Wilson retired from the Sounds during the 1995 season and became the team's pitching coach. Fred Dabney, who pitched out of the bullpen in 1993, returned to coach pitchers from 2012 to 2014. Éric Gagné, who made two major league rehabilitation starts in 2008, served as bullpen coach in 2019. Jim Henderson, a reliever from 2011 to 2012 and in 2014, returned to the Sounds as pitching coach in 2021. Tyler Thornburg, part of Nashville's starting rotation from 2012 to 2013, became a pitching coach in 2026. Outfielder Gene Roof (1986) and catcher Buddy Pryor (1987) were player-coaches who coached hitting while playing on the team. Two coaches also managed the Nashville club. Pitching coach Wayne Garland filled in as interim manager for three games in 1988 after the dismissal of manager Jack Lind. Richie Hebner, who was the hitting coach from 1998 to 2000, became the team's manager for the second half of the 2000 season after Trent Jewett was hired as the third base coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Four coaches were selected to participate in the Triple-A All-Star Game: Stan Kyles (2006), Rich Gale (2011), Bob Skube (2014), and Rick Rodriguez (2017).

Pat Dobson's 1980 to 1981 pitching staffs had a 3.18 earned run average (ERA), the lowest recorded under all pitching coaches. Darold Knowles (2001–2004) and Stan Kyles (2005–2008) are the longest-tenured pitching coaches, having each served four full seasons. Hitting coach Sandy Guerrero (2009–2011) led his hitters to batting averages of .276, the highest under all hitting coaches. Al LeBoeuf (2012, 2021–2024), who coached hitting for five seasons, is the longest-serving hitting coach.

Coaches +KeyNo.A running total of the number of Sounds coaches. Thus, any coach who has two or more separate terms is only counted once.W%Team winning percentage: number of wins divided by number of games coached in the regular-seasonERATeam earned run average: earned runs divided by innings pitched times nineSOTeam strikeoutsBATeam batting average: hits divided by at batsHRTeam home runsRBITeam runs batted in*Player-coachAll-Star while coaching the Sounds

Pitching

These personnel have served as pitching coaches, a role instituted in 1980.

+Pitching coachesCoachSeason(s)WinsLossesW%ERASO None 1978–1979 147 138 .516 3.32 1,630 1 1980–1981 178 108 .622 3.18 1,804 2 1982–1984 239 198 .547 3.73 2,357 3 1985 71 70 .504 3.84 783 4 1986 68 74 .479 4.25 755 5 1987–1988 137 145 .486 3.89 1,833 6 1989–1990 160 133 .546 3.52 1,784 7 1991 65 78 .455 3.77 886 8 1992 67 77 .465 3.82 1,033 9 1993–1994 164 123 .571 3.70 1,951 10 1994 83 61 .576 3.53 1,041 11 1994 83 61 .576 3.53 1,041 12 1994 83 61 .576 3.53 1,041 1995 68 76 .472 4.04 931 13 1995 68 76 .472 4.04 931 1996 77 67 .535 3.77 880 1997 74 69 .517 4.64 881 14 1998–1999 147 136 .519 4.73 1,894 15 2000 63 79 .444 4.80 854 16 2001–2004 280 289 .492 4.32 3,961 17 2005–2008 299 273 .523 4.13 4,327 18 75 69 .521 4.25 882 19 75 69 .521 4.25 882 20 77 67 .535 4.27 938 21 77 67 .535 4.27 938 71 73 .493 4.27 1,003 71 73 .493 4.27 1,003 71 73 .493 4.27 1,003 22 2012–2014 201 231 .465 4.22 3,353 23 2015 66 78 .458 3.95 1,037 24 2016–2018 223 198 .530 3.92 3,279 25 2019 66 72 .478 5.48 1,158 2020 — — — — — — 26 2021 65 56 .529 4.16 1,108 27 2022–2024 252 191 .569 4.30 4,216 28 2024 78 68 .534 4.40 1,286 29 2025–present 165 132 .556 4.13 2,597 30 2025 85 63 .574 3.91 1,277 31 2026–present 80 69 .537 4.36 1,320

Hitting

These personnel have served as hitting coaches, a role instituted in 1980 and not utilized in 1985 or from 1988 to 1990.

+Hitting coachesCoachSeason(s)BAHRRBI None 1978–1979 .256 108 977 1 1980–1982 .270 273 1,922 2 1983 .272 100 650 3 1983–1984 .268 199 1,244 None 1985 .252 96 521 4 1986 .274 85 600 5 .257 75 535 6 .257 75 535 None 1988–1990 .253 246 1,594 1991–1992 .255 199 1,086 7 1993–1996 .264 527 2,482 8 1997 .269 153 659 9 1998–2000 .273 482 2,049 10 2000 .258 138 639 11 2001 .276 130 616 12 2002 .262 110 608 13 2003 .266 116 585 2004 .272 180 642 14 2005–2006 .269 272 1,279 15 2007–2008 .267 278 1,267 16 2009–2011 .276 394 1,978 17 2012 .259 119 507 18 2013–2014 .260 249 1,145 19 2015 .265 84 548 20 2016–2018 .261 408 1,864 21 2019 .261 179 658 2020 — — — — 2021–2024 .254 621 2,778 22 2024 .244 133 688 23 2025–present .246 279 1,375 24 2025–present .246 279 1,375

Bench coaches

These personnel have served as bench coaches, a role instituted in 2019 and not utilized from 2020 to 2023.

+Bench coachesCoachSeason(s)1 2019 2 2024–present

Bullpen

These personnel served as bullpen coaches, a role utilized only in 2019 and from 2023 to 2024.

+Bullpen coachesCoachSeason(s) 1 2019 2 2023–2024

General

These personnel have served as general coaches, overseeing various player development roles since 2020.

+General coachesCoachSeason(s) 2020 2021–2024 2023 2025–present

Former roles

These personnel served in discontinued coaching roles.

+Former rolesCoachSeason(s)Role 2022 Development coach

See also List of Nashville Sounds managers

Notes Pitching

Hitting

Other

References