The coach’s son has made it to the top. Dan Rives was named the Athletic Director at Mississippi Delta Community College this week. MDCC President, Dr. Tyrone Jackson, knows his athletic department is in capable hands.
"Mississippi Delta Community College continues to prepare for the future in the midst of challenging times. We are very pleased to welcome Dan Rives as our new athletic director," Jackson said. "I'm excited to see the path that our athletic department can take under his leadership."
Rives had been head baseball coach at MDCC the past four years and is ready for the challenge.
“I had it in my mind that I would coach another 10-15 years and then take the last four or five years and go into administration,” he said. “But the Lord opens doors and opportunities when you least expect it. I thought about it and prayed about it and talked to my family about it and I felt like it was something where it was the right place at the right time. I’ve been really excited ever since.”
Rives officially takes his seat at the AD desk on July 1 but in the meantime, he’s got “1,000 ideas running around in my head” about the job and what all to do. He will also don the hat of the school’s Sports Information Director. He’s been assisting the department and had headed up the Hinds CC SID office as well where he oversaw the redesign of the athletic website on three occasions as well as the production of all athletic publications and news releases.
“Even when I was ‘just a baseball coach’ I had my eye on, if I was an AD, what would be my first order of business? The first thing would be hiring coaches but we’re in a situation where they are all currently in place,” he said. “We’ve got a pretty good mix of old and new coaches.”
He plans to meet with his coaches as a group and individually “and just outline some things and what can I help you with? What are some goals? Facility improvements? We may not be able to do all of them but I want to do everything I can to help them and let them know my expectations. If we’re all rolling in the same direction, our chances of success increase.”
Maintaining and constantly building up the Trojan athletic talent, tradition and facilities is a tough challenge on any level. But more so on the JUCO level as athletes are only around for two seasons.
“The programs that do it year in and year out and win eight or nine games a year in football or 40 a year in baseball, that’s remarkable because there is so much turnover. You just hope the culture in place is one that is established and you have good leadership with your sophomores,” he said.
Rives has been well on his way to re-establishing the Trojan baseball team as a JUCO power. During Rives’ almost four seasons at the helm of the baseball program, he had two Trojans named to the All-Region and Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) All-State first teams and nine Trojans named to the All-State second team. Nearly 30 former student-athletes under his tutelage moved on to the four-year level (including 14 to the Division I ranks) to continue their academic and athletic careers, along with his program having a team GPA of greater than 3.0 in each of the previous seven semesters. He’ll also be looking to get fans and alumni more involved in support with their presence and pulling out their checkbooks to show support.
“A lot of times their heart is going to go out to their four-year school,” he said. “We have to find whatever it is to give back to Mississippi Delta. We want to try and increase our resources and our facilities and make them more appealing to high school athletes.”
Rives, the son of former 20-year Delta State Men’s basketball coach Steve Rives, grew up in the Mississippi Delta in Cleveland.
He attended Cleveland High School where he played baseball and football. With a basketball coach for a dad, Rives took to the diamond more readily and admitted his hardwood abilities were limited.
“I think he kind of saw the writing on the wall whether he’ll admit it or not. I was a shooter first and my defensive skills were lacking,” he said. “I played (basketball) all the way up until my senior year and then we had fall baseball and I played on a fall travel team for the first time ever. I played for Coach Charles Cole who ended up coaching at Gentry.”
The infielder/pitcher first played at Delta State where he redshirted his freshman year.
He spent another year under Coach Mike Kinnison before transferring to MDCC for a year and then finished up at Mississippi College. His former coach knows his player is more than ready for the challenge.
“Dan is a solid choice for MDCC’s Athletic Director,” Kinnison said. “He has been involved in sports all of his life and has been in successful programs as a player and as a coach. He has been part of the Trojan Athletic family and will have valuable knowledge and leadership skills.”
Rives first came to MDCC in 2003 and finished his playing career at Mississippi College. The Choctaw earned All-American Southwest Conference (ASC) honors as a senior infielder in 2005. He was also voted Team MVP by his teammates and coaches at the conclusion of his senior campaign and he obtained All-Academic honors in his junior and senior seasons.
He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology from Mississippi College in 2005 and later received his Master of Arts degree in Social Science from MC in 2007.He then started his coaching career but not where he thought.
“I was going to be a GA (graduate assistant) at MC but the guy who was our top assistant at the time, Sam Temple, took the head coaching job at Hinds Community College,” Rives said.
Temple asked him to come along, gave him responsibility and Rives started his new career as a coach.
“It was such a great experience because as a player you have all the answers and you think you know everything there is to know about coaching until you get into it,” he said. “He threw me right in the fire and let me coach third base and work with infielders and recruit. He let me make mistakes. That was the biggest thing. He would correct me and let me know what I was doing wrong, but he let me make mistakes. He let me work and I got better with age.”
Hinds’ baseball team steadily improved and with success came more talent and the Eagles made it to the JUCO World Series in 2014. During his time in Raymond, Rives helped lead the Eagles to three MACJC state championships (2010, 2012 and 2015) and one National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) regional championship (2014).
It was also during this time that the Eagles had over 100 players move on to the four-year or professional ranks, including over 50 student-athletes advancing to the Division I level.
He would put in a total of 11 years at Hinds before moving to MDCC to take on the head coaching position for the baseball team in July of 2016.
The Cleveland native is married to Andrea (Atchley), and the couple resides in Indianola.
They have a daughter, Madelyn (12), and a son, Luke (8). The coach’s son will soon sit in the office to lead all of the MDCC coaches – a job he’s been training for and ready to take on.
