Story below 6/17/2019 from Linfield Sports Info.
Photos above found on Internet.
Dan Spencer has been
named baseball coach at Linfield College, director of athletics Garry Killgore
announced Monday (6/17/2019). He replaces Stan Manley who retired at the end of
the 2019 season.
"Dan is an excellent
fit as Linfield's next head baseball coach. He has an outstanding reputation
and track record within the baseball community and epitomizes the Linfield
tradition of excellence," said Killgore. "Dan will be a great leader
for our baseball team and a wonderful addition to our coaching staff and the
community at large. I am very excited to have him on board with us."
Spencer becomes just the
sixth Linfield baseball coach in the span of the last 70 seasons. He takes over
a program regarded nationally for its lasting stability and winning ways. Since
recording its first Northwest Conference baseball championship in 1923,
Linfield has won three national championships (two as part of the NAIA and one
in the NCAA), along with 41 additional conference titles.
"I'm very excited and
honored to be joining the Linfield family," said Spencer.
"Growing up
in Southwest Washington in 1975, I would always hear about Linfield and its
reputation for winning baseball games. The baseball program and the people at
Linfield are all fantastic, no matter what angle you look at it from, whether
that's academically, athletically or from a facilities point of view."
Spencer is an
outside-the-box hire, becoming the first non-Linfield graduate to lead the
program since 1949. He has strong ties to the Pacific Northwest and brings with
him 28 years of coaching experience, including 22 at the Division I level with
stops at Washington State, New Mexico, Oregon State and Texas Tech.
He departs Washington State
for Linfield after three seasons in which he served as the Cougars associate
head coach, pitching coach and recruiting coordinator.
Before Washington State,
Spencer was an assistant for three years at New Mexico (2013-15), where he
helped the Lobos reach the title game of the Mountain West Conference
Tournament. In 2014, his pitching staff recorded the lowest collective ERA
(4.23) since 1977 and seventh-lowest staff ERA in the program's 115-year
history. The UNM bullpen saved a school-record 16 games.
He spent a total of 11 years
as a member of the Oregon State coaching staff, first as an assistant
(1997-2003) and then as associate head coach under Pat Casey (2004-07). While
in Corvallis, the Beavers won back-to-back national titles and appeared in
three straight College World Series (2005-07). His pitching staffs led the
Pac-10 in ERA during both 2005 and 2006 and in saves in 2006 and 2007. He also
served as the program's recruiting coordinator and brought in three nationally
ranked recruiting classes. Collegiate Baseball Magazine named Spencer as its
National Pitching Coach of the Year in 2007.
Spencer spent five seasons
at Texas Tech, one as associate head coach and four more as head coach. He was
the first Red Raiders head coach to win at least 25 games in each of his first
four seasons and his teams defeated 32 nationally ranked opponents. His players
excelled in the classroom, earning 31 Academic All-Big 12 awards during his
four years, nearly as many (34) as the school received in the 12 years
preceding his arrival.
During his time at Oregon
State, Texas Tech and New Mexico, Spencer coached 12 players to 26 All-America
awards. Thirty five players he coached were selected in the first 10 rounds of
the Major League Baseball draft, including 14 in the top five rounds and three
first-round picks.
Spencer began his head
coaching career at Green River Community College in Auburn, Wash., where he was
the head coach from 1992-96. In 1992 and 1994, he was named the Northwest
Athletic Association of Community Colleges Coach of the Year. He also spent one
season as an assistant at Tacoma Community College. His first coaching job was
leading Vancouver's Ryder Construction 16-18 year-old Senior Babe Ruth team.
As a player, Spencer played
three seasons as a catcher and third baseman at Texas Tech after beginning his
collegiate career at Mira Costa College in Oceanside, California.
A native of Vancouver,
Wash., and Fort Vancouver High School graduate, Spencer completed his
bachelor's degree in history from Portland State University in 1990. He and his
wife, Susie, have three children: Wade, 24, Logan, 21, and Elizabeth, 14.
DAN SPENCER'S COACHING
CHRONOLOGY
246-179 overall record (131-67 junior college)
Washington State, Associate Head Coach, 2016-19
New Mexico, Assistant Coach, 2013-15
Texas Tech, Head Coach, 2009-12
Texas Tech, Associate Head Coach, 2008
Oregon State, Associate Head Coach, 2004-07
Oregon State, Assistant Coach, 1997-2003
Green River C.C., Head Coach, 1992-96
Tacoma C.C., Assistant Coach, 1991
QUOTING LINFIELD COACH DAN SPENCER On the kind
of team fans can expect to see on the field
"We're going to be known for having very
good fundamentals and for playing hard and running around. We'll be athletic,
fast and physical and we'll have some toughness. People will recognize us as
looking a lot like Linfield teams of the past, teams that won a lot of games by
using a blue collar mentality."
On why coming to Linfield
makes sense for him
"I really feel like
Linfield is the perfect place for me and I'm looking forward to getting
started. We're going to come in and see just how many games we can win. There's
so much support for the program already. I can't wait to get started."
On what stands out to him about coaching at
Linfield
"Coaching at Linfield
is going to be so different from the Division I experience where each sport is
its own separate entity. As I was going through the application process, it
really felt like Linfield was a family with everyone pulling toward a common
goal."
On the differences between Division I and
Division III
"Division I sports have
changed a lot over the last 10 years where now you are going in and recruiting
15- or 16-year-old kids. Picking a college is a big decision someone that age.
At Linfield, we'll recruit juniors and seniors rather than freshmen and sophomores.
So when a guy shows up to play, you have pretty good idea they are already
capable students or they wouldn't be here. That takes a lot of stress off the
coach, knowing that a kid you recruit is a very likely going to take care of
business in the classroom."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Former Oregon State pitching
coach Dan Spencer hired as Linfield baseball coach
6/19/2019 Oregonian by Nick
Daschel
Dan Spencer, who spent more
than a decade with Oregon State baseball and served as pitching coach on the
Beavers’ 2006 and 2007 national title teams, is back in Oregon as Linfield
baseball coach.
The Wildcats hired their
first baseball coach without school ties since 1949, replacing Stan Manley, who
retired after the 2019 season.
Spencer most recently was
associate head coach at Washington State for the past four years.
Spencer was part of Pat
Casey’s coaching staff from 1997-2007, including associate head coach from
2004-07. In 2007, Spencer was honored as pitching coach of the year by
Collegiate Baseball magazine in 2007.
During a college coaching
career that started in 1991, this is Spencer’s third stint as a head coach. He
previously served in those roles at Green River CC from 1992-96, and Texas Tech
from 2009-12.
Linfield has been one of the
Northwest’s strongest small college baseball programs over time. The Wildcats
are three-time national champions, including 2013 under Scott Brosius. However,
Linfield struggled in 2019, posting their first losing season since 1987.
