St. Thomas baseball coach Cameron leaving to join FSU softball program
After seven seasons as the head baseball coach at his alma mater, Troy Cameron is leaving St. Thomas Aquinas to take a position on the Florida State softball staff.
“This opportunity came up, which is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Cameron said. “Florida State has always been the school I rooted for. So, once this opportunity came up, the more I looked into it, the more I realized it was something I needed to do. It was probably the only thing that was ever going to take me away from St. Thomas.”
Cameron, who won a state championship with the Raiders in 2018, compiled a 151-37 record at St. Thomas and led the school to a district title in each of his seven seasons.
Cameron said he never planned on leaving St. Thomas until he had the opportunity to coach at Florida State, which won the 2018 softball national championship.
“I didn’t think there was an opportunity that existed to take me away from St. Thomas. I really didn’t,” Cameron said. “I’ve been offered professional coaching jobs every year. It wasn’t something I was interested in. The travel and
the quality of life — I’ve been there, done that as a player. I know what it’s like, so I had no desire to coach [professional baseball].
“I thought St. Thomas was the perfect place for me, and I was going to coach there as long as I could.”
After a career playing and coaching baseball, Cameron said he expects there to be a learning curve as he adjusts to college softball, but he doesn’t expect it to be too steep.
“It’s a faster game, and distances are a little bit shorter on base paths and stuff like that,” Cameron said. “I think there will be a little bit of a learning curve when it comes to that, but in the end, the strategy and a lot of things that happen throughout the game is the same as baseball. So, I don’t think that transition will be that much different.”
Cameron is the second title-winning baseball coach to leave Broward for a college position this offseason. Calvary Christian coach Alan Kunkel left the Eagles to take a position on the South Florida baseball staff in June.
Cameron was a two-time Sun Sentinel Player of the Year while playing for the Raiders, and the Atlanta Braves selected him in the first round of the 1997 MLB Draft. He had signed a National Letter of Intent to play for FSU, but signed with the Braves instead. Cameron played professional baseball from 1997-2005.
Cameron’s years in the Braves’ system led to his new position. While playing for Atlanta’s Rookie League team in Danville, Virginia, he met teammate Travis Wilson.
Wilson, who signed with the Braves as a fast-pitch softball player out of New Zealand, is an assistant coach for the Seminoles’ softball team, and he introduced Cameron to FSU softball coach Lonni Alameda.
“I go up there every year with my wife and daughter for a football game and stay with Travis, and every year I would go out to softball practice and help out for the day and hang around the softball field,” Cameron said. “And I ended up developing a relationship with Lonni through that.”
Cameron is not leaving baseball altogether. He was named the manager of Team USA’s 15u team in May, and he will remain in that position, coaching the 15u national team in the Pan-American Championships in September.
St. Thomas assistant coach Joey Wardlow, who worked on Cameron’s staff for four years, will take over the program. Wardlow played for Key West and the University of Tampa before a four-year pro career.
“Losing Troy is a big blow,” St. Thomas Aquinas athletic director George Smith said. “But Joey was hand-picked by Troy and myself, and he’s the same idea. He played in the league. He’s a great guy. The players like him. Just like Troy took care of the team and everything else, Joey will be the same type of guy.”
Wardlow worked as an assistant coach at Key West and Chaminade-Madonna, and he was the head coach of Tampa Wharton from 1998-99.
Hiring a coach who is already embedded in the program will give the Raiders continuity as they seek their eighth straight district championship. Wardlow said the school’s history of success doesn’t weigh on him in a negative way, but that it gives him a blueprint on how to succeed.
“There’s no pressure,” Wardlow said. “But there’s a need to continue the tradition of the culture of our program.”