Before helping the Atlanta Braves go an unprecedented run of 14 consecutive division championships, legendary pitching coach Leo Mazzone spent time coaching in Greenville. He was manager of the Greenville Braves for part of the 1984 season, and was the G-Braves pitching coach in 1987.

Thirty years after coaching a Greenville team in the Southern League, next spring Mazzone will be advising one in the Southern Conference.

Mazzone was introduced as Furman’s first special advisor to the baseball program Tuesday afternoon.

“I’m here to advise the head coach, critique the coaching staff, and just impart my knowledge to them as to what we learned all those years that we were with the Braves,” Mazzone said from the Furman baseball facility deck overlooking Latham Stadium Tuesday.

“I’m looking for someone to pass my stuff on to … and it keeps me in the game a little bit.”

The connection came after a chance meeting between Mazzone and new Furman pitching coach Kaleb Davis, who came to Furman from Anderson University in July.

Mazzone and his wife, Rebecca – a Taylors native, moved to Anderson last year in a home at Lake Hartwell. During a charity golf event in Anderson earlier this summer, Mazzone struck up a conversation about pitching with Davis and ended up inviting him and his wife over to Mazzone’s home for a barbecue. A few days later, Davis called Mazzone with the news that he was leaving for Furman to be an assistant under new head coach Brett Harker.

Mazzone remembered Harker from spring training during Mazzone’s final years as a major league pitching coach with the Baltimore Orioles in 2006 and 2007.

“It all kind of came together and we just sat down two weeks ago to talk pitching and baseball,” Mazzone said. “They gave me a tour of this beautiful facility. … This is going to be fun. I’m looking forward to it.”

Mazzone’s coaching career began in the Braves’ minor league system in 1979. He was the pitching coach for Atlanta from 1990-2005, when the Braves won one World Series, five National League pennants and 14 division titles. While with Atlanta, Mazzone coached Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz, all of whom are now in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The trio combined to win six National League Cy Young awards under Mazzone’s tutelage.

During that run, the Braves developed quite the fan base in the Upstate. That included Harker, a Simpsonville native who starred at Hillcrest High and the College of Charleston before a seven-year pro career.

“To say that this is big for our program would be the understatement of the century,” Harker said. “Excited just doesn’t seem like a big enough word. This guy and his pitching staffs are the whole reason that I played this game.

“I told him, ‘if you came out here once a month it would be worth it to us.’ He said, ‘I plan on being here more than that.’ I said, ‘well, that’s a deal.’ “

In the years since leaving the big leagues, Mazzone has spoken at seminars with coaches throughout the country. He’s passionate about his teaching style of throwing more often with less exertion as a way to avoid injuries that result in Tommy John surgery.

Mazzone speaks bluntly about “bad advice” from certain scouts, organizations or traveling All-Star teams. He said young pitchers are often told if they don’t hit a certain number on a radar gun then they’re not going to make a club or get a scholarship.

“In talking to the coaching staff here, they never mentioned that one time. They talked about being a pitcher. They talked about playing the game and getting in baseball shape,” Mazzone said. “The last time I heard somebody other than the Furman coaching staff talk about getting in baseball shape was some guy named Bobby Cox.”

Mazzone said all the years he spent playing and coaching in the minor league gave him plenty of experience of working alongside 17- and 18-year-olds. While he will only advise Furman coaches, he said that past experience should be helpful in his new role.

“The coaching staff and I have a lot in common when we talk baseball,” Mazzone said. “I think they’re doing it the right way here and if I can help the coaches, that’s what I want to do.

“I’m not here for anybody’s job or anything like that. I’m here (in the Upstate) to be on the lake.”