Jon Groth was hired in 1992 to restart the baseball program at Tyler Junior College.  Since that time, the program has become one in which four year programs and professional scouts in the nation's hotbed for baseball talent have come to respect and look to for quality players.   In the time since the program was restarted, there have been over 100 players from the Apache program move into four year baseball.  

Former Apaches have transitioned well into the Big 12, Southeastern Conference, Southland, WAC, Conference USA, Lone Star Conference and other top programs in this region of the country.

Coach Groth served as an officer in the Texas-New Mexico Junior College Baseball Coaches Association for several years, most recently as President from 2002-2004.  He also has served as NJCAA Region 14 East Conference Chairman when the Apaches were a part of that conference from 1993-2003.

The Apache Baseball Program transitioned from NJCAA Division I status to NJCAA Division III status in 2003.  TJC has hosted an NJCAA Regional tournament three times and despite the transition to Div III, the Apaches have been in the NJCAA playoffs in five of the last seven years. One of the fruits of the Apache program under Coach Groth has been the success of his former assistant coaches.  His first assistant, Eddie Uschold, is now the skipper of the Missouri Baptist University program in St. Louis.  Robert Riggs, current head coach at East Texas Baptist University, is also a former assistant for the Apaches.   Steven Purl, another former Apache assistant, after serving the baseball program at the University of Texas is now an assistant coach at Horn High School in Mesquite, Texas.  Daniel Washburn, pitching coach at LaGrange College in East Georgia is another former Tyler assistant that is doing great things in baseball after time in the Apache program.  

Before coming to Tyler, coach Groth was an assistant coach at Texas A&M University under ABCA Hall of Fame coach Mark Johnson.  While in College Station, he earned his PhD in Kinesiology.  Before his time at A&M, he was a Graduate Assistant at Georgia Southern under ABCA Hall of Fame coach Jack Stallings and earned his M.Ed in Health and Physical
Education.  His coaching career began at the University of New Orleans where he played for ABCA Hall of Fame coach Ron Maestri and coached under longtime UNO coach Tom Schwaner.

His playing career included two years of professional baseball and being selected an All-Star his rookie season in the Cincinnati Reds organization. In college, he was an NCAA All-Regional  player at the University of New Orleans, played in the 1984 College World Series in Omaha, and was among the final 44 on the 1984 USA Olympic Baseball team.  He was selected as an  NJCAA All-Regional player while in Junior College at Cuyahoga Community College.  Groth also played two seasons with the USA Athletes in Action team in Europe and the Orient.   A three sport athlete in high school, he was elected into the Chagrin Falls High School Athletic Hall of Fame in October of 2003.  
    
Coach Groth is also the Faculty Sponsor for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Tyler Junior College and is a Deacon at Tyler's Green Acres Baptist Church.Coach Groth is married to wife Kitty and they have six children. The Groth Family resides in Tyler.