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Next Tuesday, January 15, the college baseball season starts. Non-Division I Sonoma State plays at Hawaii-Hilo. The Division I schedule starts on the 18th when Cal Poly plays at Hilo. Now, I'm as excited about getting the season started as anyone, but even I have trouble getting worked up about this. I guess it's because I think it's a shame that things start with a trickle each year -- it just strikes me as odd that the NCAA hasn't set a start date for the season that sets up an "opening weekend" feel to it the way they do with most other sports. The first games I can find that don't involve Hilo start on the 24th with BYU and Texas Tech playing a fairly interesting looking matchup that may be being played too early for the teams to have had enough practice to get sharp. Nonetheless, there will be real games to worry about very soon now.

The NCAA hasn't updated the official coaching records listing on their Web site yet, but I want to go ahead and take a look at the lists going into this year, so I'll do them by hand and try to keep the mistakes to a minimum.

I covered this territory last year, and I don't want to repeat the commentary for those of you who were here then, so the rest of you should go read that column for some general thoughts.

Now, here's the updated active coaches' total wins list:

    Coach, Team                   Yrs.  Won  Lost   %    Last Year

 1. Augie Garrido, Texas           33  1323  651  .670       1
 2. Gene Stephenson, Wichita St.   24  1310  405  .764       3
 3. Chuck Hartman, Virginia Tech   42  1305  679  .658       2
 4. Larry Hays, Texas Tech         31  1278  686  .651       4
 5. Bob Bennett, Fresno St.        33  1268  730  .635       5
 6. Larry Cochell, Oklahoma        35  1211  712  .630       6
 7. Jim Dietz, San Diego St.       30  1187  728  .620       7
 8. Mike Martin, Florida St.       22  1178  400  .747       8
 9. Richard Jones, Illinois        35  1128  651  .634       9
 9. Norm DeBriyn, Arkansas         32  1126  622  .644       9
11. Ron Polk, Georgia              28  1121  531  .679      12
12. Gary Adams, UCLA               32  1083  797  .576      13
13. Mark Marquess, Stanford        25  1041  513  .670      14
14. Rudy Abbott, Jacksonville St.  32  1003  467  .682      15
15. Gary Ward, New Mexico St.      20   985  336  .746      16
16. Jay Bergman, UCF               25   972  540  .643      19
17. James Wilson, Temple           42   953  710  .573      17
18. Bob Morgan, Indiana            26   950  484  .662      18
18. Mike Sheppard, Seton Hall      29   950  488  .661      20
20. Jim Ward, Eastern Kentucky     32   937  714  .568      21

Notes:

• I'm assuming that active means "coached during last season", so Abbott stays on the list for this year. I've removed Les Murakami since he didn't actually coach any during last year, but I'm not sure what the official ruling on that will be, and I certainly bear no ill will in doing so.

• The top three all had their winning percentages decline this year. That may be normal, since success will take you into tougher competition. Mark Marquess continues to raise his percentage each year, on the other hand, which may be an advantage to on-the-job training in a tough position.

• Despite a relatively rough season, Stephenson managed to pass Hartman for the second spot.

• Bergman makes a nice move up with a good year, and should move up a couple more spaces this year.

Possible moves in 2002:

• Once again, any of the top three could finish the year in first; given their schedules, I'd give almost even odds between Stephenson and Garrido at this point.

• Martin will most likely end the year ahead of Dietz, although I think that one will be close and would love to see Dietz finish up with a flourish.

• Polk should move up a couple of spaces this year.

    Coach, Team                   Yrs.  Won  Lost   %     Last Year

 1. Gene Stephenson, Wichita St.   24  1310  405  .764        1
 2. Mike Martin, Florida St.       22  1178  400  .747        3
 3. Gary Ward, New Mexico St.      20   985  336  .746        2
 4. Skip Bertman, LSU              18   869  328  .726        4
 5. Jim Morris, Miami (Fla.)       20   891  371  .706        5
 6. Rick Jones, Tulane             13   517  217  .704        9
 7. Ray Tanner, South Carolina     14   611  266  .697        8
 8. Jim Wells, Alabama             12   512  226  .694        6
 9. Dave Van Horn, Nebraska         8   322  145  .690       14
10. Wayne Graham, Rice             10   426  196  .685       11
11. Rudy Abbott, Jacksonville St.  33  1003  467  .682        7
12. Mark Johnson, Texas A&M        17   724  341  .680       10
13. Ron Polk, Georgia              28  1121  531  .679       12
14. Sunny Galloway, Oral Roberts    6   246  117  .678       24
15. Pat McMahon, Mississippi St.    9   353  172  .672       13
16. Augie Garrido, Texas           33  1323  651  .670       15
17. Mark Marquess, Stanford        25  1041  513  .670       19
18. Pat Murphy, Arizona St.        17   640  316  .669       17
19. Danny Hall, Georgia Tech       14   552  273  .669       18
20. Danny Price, Florida Int'l     22   880  445  .664       20

Notes:

• As I predicted last year, Martin passes Ward, at least for now, for second place.

• Ray Tanner continues to move up, passing Abbott and Wells, but Rick Jones shoots by the whole field. Shorter careers to date make these sorts of moves in a single season easier.

• This is the area where I'm most likely to miss someone doing this by hand, since I'm not sure who met the 5-year criterion for the first time this year.

    Coach, Last Team              Yrs.  Won  Lost   %

 1. Cliff Gustafson, Texas         29  1427  373  .792
 2. Rod Dedeaux, Southern Cal      45  1332  571  .699
 3. Augie Garrido, Texas           33  1323  651  .670
 4. Gene Stephenson, Wichita St.   24  1310  405  .764
 5. Chuck Hartman, Virginia Tech   42  1305  679  .658
 6. Larry Hays, Texas Tech         31  1278  686  .651
 7. Ron Fraser, Miami (Fla.)       30  1271  438  .742
 8. Bob Bennett, Fresno St.        33  1268  730  .635
 9. Jack Stallings, Ga. Southern   39  1258  796  .612
10. Al Ogletree, Texas-Pan Am      41  1217  713  .631
11. Larry Cochell, Oklahoma        35  1211  712  .630
12. Jim Dietz, San Diego St.       30  1187  728  .620
13. Chuck Brayton, Washington St.  33  1162  523  .689
14. Bill Wilhelm, Clemson          36  1161  536  .683
15. Mike Martin, Florida St.       22  1178  400  .747
16. Richard Jones, Illinois        35  1128  651  .634
17. Norm DeBriyn, Arkansas         32  1126  622  .644
18. Ron Polk, Georgia              28  1121  531  .679
19. Jim Brock, Arizona St.         23  1100  440  .714
12. Gary Adams, UCLA               32  1083  797  .576

    Coach, Last Team             Yrs.  Won  Lost   %

 1. John Barry, Holy Cross        40   619  147  .806
 2. W.J. Disch, Texas             29   465  115  .802
 3. Cliff Gustafson, Texas        29  1427  373  .792
 4. Harry Carlson, Colorado       17   143   41  .777
 5. Gene Stephenson, Wichita St.  23  1310  405  .764
 6. George Jacobs, Villanova      11    76   25  .752
 7. Bobby Winkles, Arizona St.    13   524  173  .752
 8. Mike Martin, Florida St.      21  1178  400  .747
 9. Gary Ward, New Mexico St.     19   985  336  .746
10. Frank Sancet, Arizona         23   831  283  .744
11. Ron Fraser, Miami (Fla.)      30  1271  438  .742
12. Bob Wren, Ohio                23   464  160  .742
13. Bibb Falk, Texas              25   435  152  .741
14. Skip Bertman, LSU             17   869  328  .726
15. Bud Middaugh, Michigan        22   821  319  .720
16. J.F. "Pop" McKale, Arizona    30   302  118  .715
17. Jim Brock, Arizona St.        23  1100  440  .714
18. Toby Green, Oklahoma St.      21   318  132  .707
19. Jim Morris, Miami (Fla.)      19   891  371  .706
20. Joe Arnold, Florida           18   750  313  .705

Boyd's World-> Breadcrumbs Back to Omaha-> Updated Coaching Leader Lists

About the author, Boyd Nation