TJ Jolicoeur began as a Academy of Art softball volunteer in November 2020.
Working alongside Head Coach Nikki Gentile in her first season, Jolicoeur and the Urban Knights executed two separate five-game win streaks, contended for the Pacific West Conference Northern California Pod title, and achieved the program's highest slugging percentage (.451) to date and highest batting average (.303) since 2017. ART U finished a 2021 campaign shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic with a 15-13 overall record as three Knights accounted for six PacWest weekly awards, three were named to the
All-PacWest Team, infielder Haley Randall was voted
PacWest Freshman of the Year plus added multiple All-Region honors, and junior catcher/infielder Lauryn Henderson became the first student-athlete in program history to earn
NFCA All-American First Team honors along with All-Region and
All-PacWest First Team selections. A total of eight Knights collected
Academic All-PacWest honors as well.
Prior to working with the pitchers at ART U, TJ was a pitching coach at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo under head coach Jenel Guadagno. TJ helped Cuesta start off a very promising 2019-2020 season as the Cougars sprinted out to their best start since 2016 before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the remainder of the season.
TJ arrived at Cuesta in the 2015-2016 season acting as head coach for away games and full-time pitching coach under Cuesta's winningest coach in any sport, Allison Merzon. Prior to this, in the 2014-2015 season, he led a predominately underclassmen Templeton High School team to their first CIF playoff bid in eight years.
TJ has been married to his wife Christina for 26 years and has a daughter, Nicolette, who is currently attending McGeorge School of Law. He hails from Camarillo, California and attended Cal State East Bay. He is retired from a career in Sales and enjoys cycling and golf in his free time.
