The Outer Banks Daredevils are excited to announce that Jason Howell has been named Team President. Jason will be working with our front office team during the 2023 season, assisting in various aspects of our operations and helping to guide our organization into the future.
Coach Howell brings a wealth of baseball knowledge and a true passion for the game to our organization. His commitment to professionalism and to ensuring that the highest level of community based summer baseball thrives in the Outer Banks makes Jason the perfect leader for the club as we relaunch operations following a few years of our pandemic related suspension of operations.
Jason and Meredith’s family are generational property owners here in the Outer Banks and they have enjoyed being a part of our community during the summer months and look forward to becoming more involved in the years to come. The Daredevils are excited to have Jason and Meredith joining the team and are looking forward to working with them as the boys of summer will once again take the field here in the Outer Banks.
Coach Howell is currently serving as an assistant coach with the University of North Carolina baseball team, where he played his collegiate baseball, and is now a valuable member of their coaching staff. Below is his bio taken from the UNC baseball website:
Jason Howell re-joined the Carolina Baseball staff on in the fall of 2020 and is involved in all aspects of the program and is responsible for on-campus recruiting efforts as well as assisting coach Jesse Wierzbicki with Carolina’s analytics team.
“I have known Jason since coaching him in the summer of 1999 in the Coastal Plain League where he pitched and played first base for me with the Wilmington Sharks. Jason brings 14 years of Division I coaching experience as well as experience in professional baseball,” Forbes said.”
“Jason has recruited and coached at the highest level and we are lucky to have him return to UNC. He was well respected as a player at UNC and was known for his work ethic and team first attitude. Jason is a great friend and I am thankful to be able to work alongside him.”
Howell returned to Carolina after serving as the Area Scouting Supervisor of the Mid Atlantic Region (N.C., Va., D.C., Md. and Del.) for the Chicago White Sox organization. Prior to his time with the White Sox, Howell spent seven seasons at Georgia Tech, where he led the pitching staff and served as the recruiting coordinator during the 2018-19 seasons.
“I am very excited to be back at UNC and on the field working both side of the baseball with Coach Forbes, Coach Gaines and Coach Wierzbicki,” said Howell. “The University of North Carolina along with all of its support staff is a very special place and holds a lot of memories for me and my family. The opportunity to return and be a part of this program and community is a return home.”
While at Georgia Tech, Howell was a part of six Top-25 recruiting classes, which included Top-10 rankings in three of the six seasons and the fifth ranked class in 2019. Additionally, in 2019, the Yellow Jackets won the ACC Coastal Division and began the NCAA Tournament as the third overall seed.
Howell’s pitchers routinely ranked among the best in the ACC. His staffs in 2018 and 2019 led the ACC in walks per nine innings while his 2018 squad paced the league in strikeout-to-walk ratio. Howell coached 11 All-Americans, 34 All-Conference selections and nearly two dozen MLB during his time in Atlanta.
Prior to his time at Georgia Tech, Howell spent the 2008-12 seasons at UNCW, where the Seahawks won three CAA Conference Championships, two CAA Tournament Championships, and participated in two NCAA Regionals. As pitching coach, Howell led was part of a staff that coached the Seahawks to the CAA record for wins and conference wins while he also mentored seven All-Americans, 35 All-Conference selections and 15 MLB draft picks.
A 2002 graduate of North Carolina, Howell spent two seasons as an assistant coach at his alma mater, coaching first base while working with the pitching staff under the direction of Forbes.
The Tar Heels reached the championship series of the NCAA College World Series in 2006 and 2007 – both of Howell’s years in Chapel Hill. In 2006, the club finished 54-15 overall and captured four CWS wins over Cal State Fullerton, twice, Clemson and Oregon State and saw two first round draft picks.
The 2007 staff fashioned a 3.52 earned run average, ranking 12th nationally, and featured three MLB draft picks. The team made a College World Series run after beating South Carolina in the Chapel Hill NCAA Super Regional. The team captured CWS wins over Mississippi State, Louisville and Rice, twice, and finished with a 57-16 overall record.
Prior to joining the UNC coaching staff, Howell began his coaching career as a pitching coach for the Southern Ohio Copperheads of the Great Lakes League, a summer collegiate league, in 2005.
Before getting into coaching, Howell was a member of the Boston Red Sox farm system for five seasons before retiring from professional baseball in 2005. He compiled a 28-14 mark, collected 23 saves and recorded a 3.86 ERA with the Red Sox. In 2002, he paced Boston’s minor league circuit with 17 saves for Augusta and later topped the organization in 2003 when he made 48 appearances for Sarasota of the Florida State League.
He played three seasons at Appalachian State before concluding his collegiate career at UNC, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 2002. He also graduated from UNC in 2008 with a master’s degree.
In 2001, he earned second-team all-ACC honors after both pitching and playing in the field for the Tar Heels. On the mound, Howell went 6-2 with four saves and was also second on the team with a .350 batting average with 13 doubles and 29 runs batted in. For his efforts, Howell earned the S.H. Basnight Award as the Tar Heels’ Most Valuable Pitcher.
Coach Howell is married to the former Meredith White. The couple has three children: Lena, Lillian and Hunt.
The Daredevils are also excited to announce that Meredith Howell has been named Vice President and will be joining Jason in the front office as the Daredevils begin this new chapter in their 20 plus year history. In addition to rearing their three children, Meredith is a successful real estate agent and her talents and love of the Outer Banks will be an asset to our organization and we are very excited to have Meredith Howell joining us.
Please join us in welcoming Jason and Meredith Howell to the Daredevils family.
About the Outer Banks Daredevils
The Outer Banks Daredevils are a collegiate, summer, baseball team, located in the beautiful Outer Banks of North Carolina. The team is comprised of some of the best collegiate players from around the country.
The Daredevils are members of the Premier Collegiate League, an NCAA compliant summer baseball league, that uses wood bats, whose season runs from late May through the first of August.
The Daredevils are committed to the community and the youth of Dare County, and through the many community service activities and our youth baseball camps, the players enrich both their own lives and the lives of those whom they work with and serve.
Founded in 1996, the Daredevils are proud to continue their tradition of great collegiate summer baseball here in the Outer Banks of NC, and we are honored to have been 6 time summer league champions (2 CPL / 4 TSL).
Come out this summer, bring the family and friends, and enjoy exciting collegiate summer league baseball and help support the Outer Banks Daredevils, our Home Team!!!!
