Bio

Head Coach Jess Trask begins his second season as the skipper for the Lions in the 2024 campaign. In his first year at the helm, the Lions posted a 40-win season while earning a berth to the NAIA tournament as the Mid-South Conference Tournament runners-up. He saw one player honored as a first-team All-American.

Coach Trask has spent four seasons working with FHU infielders and baserunners. His tutelage was well-received, as over those four years the Lions saw three Gold Glove winners across the diamond while leading the Mid-South Conference in fielding percentage in 2022. The Lions' .972 fielding percentage was also the sixth-best mark in the NAIA. On the basepaths, his runners swiped more bases than any team in the MSC, while ranking eighth nationally with 145 steals.

After playing every defensive position besides shortstop and pitcher for Lewis and Clark (Ill.) Community College and the University of Tennessee at Martin, Coach Trask spent four years as an assistant at LCCC before his first trip to Henderson. Trask spent two years as the Lions' graduate assistant, helping the team to their first appearance in the NAIA opening round. After spending one season as the assistant at Bethany (Kan.) College, the Jerseyville, Illinois native returned to Freed-Hardeman where he assisted the team to three berths in the NAIA opening round including one trip to the Avista NAIA College World Series in Lewiston, Idaho. Trask also helped lead Freed-Hardeman to regular-season championships in both the MSC and the American Midwest Conference, with an AMC tournament champion trophy.

Trask holds an undergraduate degree in secondary education from the University of Tennessee at Martin where he graduated in 2011. In 2017, he graduated with a master's degree in education from Freed-Hardeman University.

Trask is married to Nicole and has two daughters - Piper and Landry.