Phil Dangel
Wednesday, September 3, 2025 10:18 am

The Coastal Plain League (CPL) announces Forest City Owls head coach DJ Russ has been named its 2025 Coach of the Year.

"It's an honor to receive this award," said Russ. "The support that has been given to me by the entire Owls organization and players is what made this possible. They made it easy to come to work everyday and want to win."

No stranger to the CPL, Russ served as an assistant coach in both High Point-Thomasville in 2020 and Morehead City in 2021 before landing the head coaching job for the HiToms during the 2022 season. That summer, he led the team to a 24-24 record, which was tied for the second-best in the West Division. Russ joined Forest City as head coach in 2024 and quickly navigated the Owls to the First Half Championship and a berth into the postseason. The team finished the regular season with the third-best record in the league, and a 29-20 mark overall.

Russ returned this summer with a goal of improving upon his previous season, and he did just that. While the league moved away from a split-season look, the Owls were in control of the West Division from Opening Day and would have won both halves had the league still had that look. Overall, the Owls clinched the top seed in the West and in the playoffs as a whole with the CPL's best regular season record, 31-15. During the playoffs, Forest City swept Boone to reach their first Championship Series since 2010. While they ultimately fell shy of the championship to the Wilson Tobs, it was a memorable summer for Russ and his squad.

"This group [of players and coaches] was great," continued Russ. "It's not often that you get a team in the summer that is as close as these guys were. Watching their camaraderie and drive to win day in and day out was something special. I'm proud to be able to be called their coach, and I share this award with them."

Among his accolades in the CPL, Russ was also named the head coach of the West Division All-Stars in both 2024 and 2025. Further, as a team, the Owls finished fourth in the league in team batting average at .266 this season, and second in overall team ERA at 4.21.

Russ is currently the head coach at Wake Tech Community College in Raleigh. Prior to taking the helm of the Eagles, he served as an assistant coach from 2023-24 at the University of Mount Olive, where he helped head coach Rob Watt and the Trojans compile a 39-18 record and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Before that, he was the Director of Baseball Operations at High Point University from 2022-23, where he managed the program's daily operations in support of the coaching staff and student-athletes; and started as recruiting coordinator and associate head coach at Guilford Tech from 2018-22.