Ivey Starling enters his fifth season after joining the Falcons baseball staff in August 2021. Starling, a native of Brentwood, Tenn., came to UM after serving as an assistant coach for two seasons at Georgia Southwestern, where he was the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator.
In 2022, Starling assisted in the Falcons impressive 36-15 record. The Falcons also had several players to earn postseason honors. Sam Kuchinski was voted Gulf South Conference Co-Player of the Year. He was one several players to earn All American, All Region and All GSC honors. Additionally, Starling coaches starting pitcher Gino Cozzi and relief pitcher Connor Phelan to All-GSC honors.
In 2023, Starling coached the Falcon pitching staff to the fourth-best team earned run average in the league and the most strikeouts for the second consecutive season with 432. Head Coach Chandler Rose rewarded Starling with a promotion to Associate Head Coach.
In 2024, Starling coached Cozzi to All-Conference form again and coached Logan Samuels who became the highest Major League Baseball draft pick in program history. Samuels was drafted in the eighth round of the 2024 MLB draft by the Atlanta Braves. Samuels became the first pitcher to be drafted since Mick Fieldbinder in 1996.
Starling continued his success in Montevallo in 2025 as he coached Adiel Melendez who received All-GSC Second Team honors. Melendez is one of three pitchers to have struck out 100 or more batters in a single-season in Montevallo's Division II history. Under Starling's coaching, Melendez had the third lowest era and pitched the fourth most innings in a season in program history. Ivey Starling saw success in the bullpen as Garrett Sloan tied the single-season record for most saves in a season with 11. The pitching staff combined for 15 saves with ties the program record for team saves in a season.
Joining Kuchinski on the NCBWA All-America team was Jake Smallwood and Reed Latimer. The trio also received NCBWA and ABCA All-Region honors. Smallwood and Latimer also garnered D2CCA All Region honors, along with Connor Phelan. Phelan, Smallwood, Kuchinski, Latimer and Gino Cozzi earned All-GSC honors.
During the 2021 season at GSW his pitching staff led the Peach Belt Conference in ERA. The staff was also second in average against and shutouts. His staff had a PBC low ERA of 4.54 and average against of .253. He also helped coach the PBC Pitcher of the Year this past season.
Prior to his time with GSW, Starling helped coach Birmingham Southern College to a deep run into the program's first NCAA National Championship series after sweeping through the World Series undefeated. During his three seasons at BSC he helped coach the Panthers to two Southern Athletic Association Conference Championships and two NCAA Regional appearances (2017 & 2019), while also coaching three SAA Conference Pitcher's of the Year.
Starling started his collegiate playing career at Faulkner State Community College in Bay Minette, Ala., before transferring and finishing his career at Trevecca Nazarene in Nashville, Tenn. While at FSCC, Starling finished with a 6-3 record while pitching 49.1 innings. At TNU, Starling made a total of 15 starts while appearing in 31 games. He finished with a 10-6 record while pitching a total of 107.1 innings and striking out 108 batters. In his last year at TNU, he led the team with 68 strikeouts.
Starling holds an Associate of Arts Degree from FSCC and a Bachelor of Arts Degree from TNU.
