University of Alabama, Huntsville Men's Baseball

Hunter Royer enters his 17th season as head coach of UAH baseball in 2025-26, having amassed a career record of 434-308-2 in 16 campaigns with the program. Royer became the all-time winningest coach in program history on March 1, 2019 at Christian Brothers with his record 277th victory, and he notched his 300th career win on Feb. 22, 2020 against Union. Royer surpassed the 400 win mark on February 25, 2024.   Through 16 seasons as head coach, Royer has guided the Chargers to the NCAA South Regional in 2012, 2014 and 2021 as well as a GSC Tournament Championship in 2014 and appearances in the GSC Tournament Championship game additionally in the 2012 and 2016 campaigns. In all, Royer has coached two MLB Amateur Draft selections, seven All-Americans, two GSC Players of the Year, one ABCA, D2CCA and NCBWA South Region Player of the Year, two GSC Freshmen of the Year, and 48 All-GSC honorees. Royer served as interim head coach in 2010, before being appointed to lead the Charger baseball team in 2011.   He served three seasons as assistant coach at UAH, including the 2009 season where he was named the top collegiate assistant coach in the state of Alabama by the Alabama Baseball Coaches Association. Royer took over the reigns as interim head coach midway through the 2010 season, leading the Chargers to a 15-13 mark including the program's first GSC Tournament win since 2003.   Following a three-year stint at Gulf South Conference foe West Alabama, Royer joined the UAH baseball coaching staff as the Chargers' top assistant in the fall of 2006.   Royer helped lead West Alabama to back-to-back NCAA South Central Regional appearances in 2005 and 2006, along with the 2005 Gulf South Conference championship.   A 1995 graduate of Sweetwater High School in Sweetwater, Tennessee, Royer received a degree in Human Performance from the University of Alabama in August of 2003.   Royer resides in Huntsville and has a son, Grady, and a daughter, Collette.

BJ Holloway joined the UAH baseball program in 2014 and now serves as the lead assistant coach on head coach Hunter Royer’s coaching staff, working primarily with hitters and position players.   A native of Klamath Falls, Oregon, Holloway aided the UAH baseball program as an assistant in 2014 and 2015, in which the squad was ranked nationally and boasted a 77-27-1 combined overall record. Prior to returning to the Chargers, Holloway spent one season assisting the Whitman baseball program in Walla Walla, Washington. In Holloway's time at Whitman, the team batting average raised 18 points to .279 this past season, and the number of walks induced (157) and the on-base percentage (.370) increased by 42 base on balls and by 33 points, respectively; the number of doubles and home runs increased by 17 and 14 as well as the team slugging percentage rocketing from .308 in 2015 to .365 in 2016. One of the most notable jumps for the offense was the increase in team RBIs from 98 in 2015 to an impressive 205 in 2016. Defensively the number of assists increased from 371 to 412, the number of errors dropped from 56 to 46, and the overall fielding percentage increased 11 points to .968 for the 2016 season. After transferring from Western Kentucky, where he played one full season, Holloway was a three-year starter at Montevallo from 2006-08. In 2006, he helped lead the Falcons to a South Central Regional Championship and a trip to the NCAA Division II World Series. In 2007, Holloway helped to lead Montevallo to another Regional Championship game and a school-record 47 wins.   Holloway graduated in 2009 from Montevallo with a bachelor’s in kinesiology, and, in 2013, earned a master’s degree from West Alabama in teaching.   Holloway and his wife, Lisa, currently reside in Huntsville with their daughter Harper and son Tucker.

Dr. Cade Smith became the fifth Director of Athletics at The University of Alabama in Huntsville when the interim tag he had held for 10 months was lifted on April 7, 2020. Since 2019, the Chargers have won 18 conference championships and 29 teams have qualified for the NCAA championships. In 2021-22, Smith led the Chargers to a record finish in the LEARFIELD Directors' Cup standings as UAH finished 54th overall in Division II for the highest ranking in program history. He currently serves as the chair of the GSC Athletic Directors Committee and is a member of the NCAA II Championships Committee. Prior to being named the AD, Smith served seven seasons with the UAH volleyball program including as the head coach from 2016 to 2020. Before joining the UAH volleyball staff, Smith spent six years coaching at Central Arkansas Christian School in Little Rock, Arkansas, and, in addition to his coaching duties, he served two years as the school principal following four years in the classroom.   Smith graduated from Harding University in 2005 with a bachelor's in physical science and chemistry, and he earned his master's in 2006 and a doctorate in education in 2015 from Harding as well. Smith also owns a master's in human resource management from UAH which he earned in 2018. Cade and his wife, Kayla, have two daughters, Annie and Lucy.