Patrick Hallmark Position: Assistant Coach At Rice: fourth season

Former Owl letterman Patrick Hallmark (Brown College) is already in his fourth year coaching at his alma mater.

Hallmark is a hitting coach, but he also serves as a coach for the catchers and works on the defensive skills and positioning of the outfielders. He serves the program under head coach Wayne Graham by assisting in a variety of roles, including help with organizing and administrating the popular Rice baseball camps and clinics.

By carrying out coach Graham's directives, Hallmark helped the Owls bat .306 as a team in 2008. That's not just soft, drop-in, hits. Rice slugged 54 home runs, 14 triples and a Conference USA-leding 120 doubles last season on the way to averaging an eye-opening 7.4 runs per game. The Blue and Gray was also among the NCAA and conference leaders in team slugging (.450) and on-base percentage (.400). On defense, Hallmark's outfielders are well-trained. Rice outfielders threw-out a total of 12 opposing runners who were attempting to reach an extra base.

A former catcher for coach Graham, Hallmark started 56 games to help lead Rice to its first 40-win season in 11 years in 1995. In that second-to-last season of the Southwest Conference, he batted .354 against the league with a .430 slugging percentage, 57 runs, and 14 stolen bases in 16 attempts.

Hallmark was selected by Kansas City in the 18th round of the 1995 major league draft and played professionally for nine seasons. He reached the AAA level in the Royals' organization. Hallmark was part of three consecutive championship teams in the minor leagues from 1997-99.

Playing primarily as a catcher and outfielder, Hallmark batted over .300 three times and stole 30 or more bases five times in his pro playing career. He twice stole more than 40 bases (2000 and 2002) and was selected to play in two minor league all-star games.

Hallmark continued to pursue his Rice degree in the off-seasons and earned it in human performance in 2002. He played his final pro season in 2003 and began his coaching career. He worked one season at nearby St. Thomas High School before joining his alma mater.

A Houston native, Hallmark was a two-time all-district honoree in baseball in 1991 and 1992 at Westbury High School. He went on to earn all-conference honors at Alvin Community College in 1993 and 1994. He was named to the all-Southwest Conference team in 1995.

Hallmark is married to the former Jada Sanders of Kingwood, a 2001 Rice graduate (Sid Richardson) and four-year letterwinner and record holder for the Owls' swim team. Jada began serving as a volunteer coach for the swim team in the fall of 2006 and was promoted to assistant coach in 2007.

The couple have two children, Christian, born on May 6, 2005, and Tanner, born in August of 2007. The family is expecting a new baby to arrive later in the spring.

Brown College